Cornwall and Isles of Scilly development agency Marine-i is providing support to a platform designed to help with the building and launching of floating offshore wind turbines.
The platform has been created by Tugdock, which is based in Falmouth in Cornwall.
The company has patented and produced a novel floating solution to lift structures for various uses.
Tugdock director of business development Lucas Lowe-Houghton said: “The floating offshore wind sector is growing fast worldwide, with enormous opportunities now emerging in the Celtic Sea and beyond.
“However, very few ports have sufficient water depth and assembly space to enable the commercialisation of these huge turbine floaters.
“Tugdock solves this problem. Our submersible platforms can operate in as little as five metres draft, enabling a more efficient construction.
“The platform is then towed to deeper water for launching of the turbines. Our platform is modular, easy to erect, and reusable.
“The Tugdock solution potentially means that a much larger number of UK ports could be involved in the fabrication of these structures, creating many new jobs.”
The next step for Tugdock is to carry out testing of a scale model of the platform.
Marine-i is supporting this through grant funding and by providing access to marine RD&I expertise and testing facilities.
Marine-i lead partner Lars Johanning said: “The development of floating offshore wind energy in the Celtic Sea is a huge opportunity for Cornwall and the South West.
“Enabling this technology to reach its full potential will require new thinking and innovative solutions from potential suppliers, just like those being proposed by Tugdock.
“We will be helping them to demonstrate the operational capability of the new platform, using the world class testing facilities at Coast Lab.
“We will also be researching the types of sites that the platform would be used in and how stable it will be in various sea conditions.”
Lowe-Houghton added: “We are very grateful for this support from Marine-i. Having access to this level of research expertise will really help to accelerate the development of our unique technology, opening up a fast growing global market for us.”