A report by Floating Wind Offshore Wind Taskforce has recommended that the UK government should transform 11 UK ports into new industrial hubs to enable large-scale floating offshore wind energy as soon as possible.

If the government acts quickly, the country could install 34GW of floating wind by 2040, the report said. Currently, the government has set a target of 5GW by 2030. The report recommends investing £4bn to upgrade ports and deploy floating wind turbines at scale by 2030.

FWOT proposes to build floating wind farms in deeper waters away from the coast for better wind speeds. The port upgrade will help enable turbines with hub heights greater than 150m, with an initial focus on Scottish ports and the Celtic Sea.

Colin Maciver, Head of Offshore Wind Development at Crown Estate Scotland, said ScotWind's lease round, involving 20 projects and a total of 27.6GW of clean energy, would require substantial upgrades to ports and port facilities to support projects with potential to help cement the UK as a floating Position as a world leader in offshore energy.

Floating bases would require at least three to five ports in Scotland and two more in the Celtic Sea region. The report also pushes four revitalized UK ports for the fabrication of large steel and concrete components for floating foundations.

Emma Harrick, head of energy transition and supply chain at Scottish Renewables, said the 14 floating wind projects announced as part of the ScotWind leasing round meant Scotland had the largest seabed in the world dedicated to the development of commercial floating wind. This gives us the opportunity to create a major new sector to drive the UK economy, and Scotland's ports are vital to scaling this nascent technology.Editor/XingWentao