Engineering design consultants, Atkins, welcomed UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s comments that one of the Green Investment Bank’s first priorities would be to help the offshore wind sector.
It said the investment, which will start in April 2012, should create renewed confidence in the sector and allow it to attract the skills necessary to deliver the projects currently being planned. Financing and the need for certainty around market reform are the two biggest hurdles currently facing the marine renewables industry, according to the consultancy.
Martin Grant, managing director of Atkins energy business said: “The Green Investment Bank’s early focus on offshore wind is exactly the catalyst the sector needs. It’s true that some early schemes have struggled to stay within budget but that’s because the sector is maturing. The same was true of the UK’s oil & gas industry but once major financing was secured and projects started to flow through an expert workforce was created that quickly began to bring costs down as their experience grew. Once that starts happening you have a product that is internationally attractive and as we’ve seen from the offshore oil & gas sector, you then have a compelling export story.”
( atkinsglobal )
[mappress]
Source: atkinsglobal, May 25, 2011