The Welsh government has announced a further £1m in funding towards establishing a floating wind industry in the country.
This grant will be match funded by the Port of Milford Haven for ground investigation works which form part of preparatory work to enable future floating offshore wind projects to deploy from Pembroke Port.
This builds on a similar match-funded grant made to Associated British Ports for early-stage work at Port Talbot announced in January 2023.
Port of Milford Haven chief executive Tom Sawyer said: “This welcome support from Welsh government will help the Port of Milford Haven in its mission to make sure Pembrokeshire remains in the driving seat of the energy transition.
“Knowing the type and extent of rock, gravel and silts here is vital if we are going to understand what will be involved in engineering the next evolution of Pembroke Port.
“This early-stage, preparatory work is an important first step in realising our ambition to create a future energy ready port facility at Pembroke Port, helping our region get a head-start in the global race to host developers of floating offshore wind (FLOW) technology.
“We know FLOW developers will need extensive deep-water dockside facilities to support installation and maintenance of wind farms in the Celtic Sea.
“With additional investment in infrastructure, Pembroke Port would be the best equipped, deepest, most sheltered, and closest port for FLOW developers in the Celtic Sea.
“Combined with Pembrokeshire’s heavy engineering cluster, energy transmission and distribution in situ, and a growing globally renowned business cluster backed by R&D, there is massive potential for growth.”