The UK offshore energy supply chain could benefit from £90bn of investment over the next decade under a new roadmap from Offshore Energies UK (OEUK).
The new Harnessing the Potential report from OEUK, together with Robert Gordon’s University (RGU), lays out plans to help UK companies build and deliver the changes required to deliver a net zero energy system.
It noted that the wider offshore energy sector, including oil and gas operators and wind developers, could invest up to £200bn on UK power production and technology projects in the remainder of this decade to help deliver government energy targets.
In addition, over £90bn of this could go to UK supply chain companies over the next decade if the roadmap is delivered and both government energy production and local content targets are met.
Opportunities include the development and licensing of new technologies, the production of equipment, installation and maintenance of assets, and the eventual decommissioning of offshore energy projects.
As plans from other countries to attract supply chain investment take effect, like the US inflation Reduction Act, OEUK said more emphasis needs to be put by politicians and governments on an energy future built in the UK instead of shipped and sourced from abroad.
The roadmap lays out several scenarios, with the best case seeing full delivery of the British Energy Strategy, with 50% of those projects delivered by the UK supply chain.
This would see 50GW of offshore wind capacity, 10GW of hydrogen production, 30m tonnes of carbon captured and stored per year and the prioritisation of domestic oil and gas production over imports during this period.
A low investment scenario, where there is no new oil and gas development and a slow pace of investment in new energies, would only deliver £60bn to UK supply chain companies.
Across all scenarios, the tool shows that oil and gas will continue to represent the biggest supply chain opportunity until at least 2027.
OEUK supply chain and people director Katy Heidenreich said: “Delivering the roadmap and building more energy projects in Britain could unlock £90bn of work for our offshore energy supply chain. This will support UK jobs, economic growth and innovation well in the future while we cut emissions and continue to deliver secure supplies of energy.
“Delivering 100% of these projects through UK companies would make the size of the prize even bigger.”