The UK is exporting products and services from wind, wave and tidal energy to 37 countries across six continents, according to a new report from RenewableUK.
The report – ‘Export Nation’ – reveals that 47 UK companies signed 465 contracts worth up to £53m per company in the past year, working on hundreds of projects in Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Australia.
Overall, UK exports of wind energy products and services are worth £525m a year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The new report reveals that the current top 10 export destinations for UK wind and marine energy companies are, in order of importance, Germany, Taiwan, Denmark, US, Netherlands, France, Belgium, China, Ireland and South Korea.
Nearly 70% of the contracts were in the offshore wind sector, with the companies featured in the report winning offshore contracts in 15 countries.
Germany is the most popular destination, followed by Taiwan, Denmark, Netherlands and US.
The UK is also exporting onshore wind products and services to 23 countries and wave and tidal energy products and expertise to 12 countries.
Exports cover a range of areas from designing and building to maintaining wind farms onshore and offshore, as well as wave and tidal.
They include manufacturing blades, supplying and installing UK-made power cables on land and underwater, fabricating specialist steelwork, providing helicopters and crew transfer vessels, producing software to maximise power generation, conducting geological surveys, monitoring wildlife and providing legal and financial services.
R-UK chief executive Hugh McNeal said: “Renewable energy is providing us with opportunities to act as innovators and leaders in new industries on the world stage.
“We can capitalise on this even further in the decades ahead, generating billions for our economy, as well as showing global leadership on climate change.
“In offshore wind, for example, we’ve set a goal of growing our exports five-fold in the next decade.
“If we want to understand just how quickly the energy transition is happening, the fact the UK is selling onshore wind energy to Saudi Arabia is about as clear as it gets.
“Around the world, the UK is seen as the go-to destination for expertise in renewable power.”