Keir Starmer is about to confirm the if Labour wins a majority it will set up a publicly-owned Great British Energy concern and heavily invest in floating offshore wind.

Labour has earmarked £8.3bn in a provisional budget to invest in renewables, and is intent on pushing wind energy, and in particular using it to create jobs in Wales.

Commenting on Labour’s plans to invest in floating wind, RenewableUK's executive director of offshore wind Jane Cooper said: “The UK is a world leader in offshore wind, and you can travel to parts of Wales like Mostyn where people are already employed in roles maintaining the North Hoyle, Rhyl Flats and Gwynt-y-Mor wind farms. However, the development of floating wind at scale offers opportunities for us to build a far greater number of offshore wind farms in deeper, windier waters in the Celtic Sea, off the coast of South Wales and England, providing vast amounts of home-blown clean power.

There are currently two operational floating offshore wind pilot projects in the UK, one at Hywind Scotland, the world’s first offshore farm developed by Equinor and Masdar, and one at Kincardine wind farm a joint venture between MacAskill Associates and Renewable Energy Ventures.

The Government currently has a target of to deploy 5GW from floating offshore wind by 2050 and its Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS) was established in March 2023 to support critical port infrastructure that will enable the delivery of floating offshore wind.

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