Thirteen organisations across England, Wales and Scotland are set to share nearly £5m in funding through the initial round of The Crown Estate’s innovative Supply Chain Accelerator (“the Accelerator”). This funding will help kick-start projects drawing down from a £50m fund established in May to accelerate and de-risk the early-stage development of UK supply chain projects that service the offshore wind sector. The Crown Estate’s match funding will contribute to a combined development investment of over £9m which, if the opportunities successfully conclude their respective development stages, could lead to more than £400m of capital investment. Projects receiving funding include those enabling floating wind platforms, anchoring and mooring systems, operations and maintenance facilities, test facilities, and those supporting the skills transition. In early 2024, The Crown Estate published the Celtic Sea Blueprint which predicted that 5,300 jobs and a £1.4bn economic boost could be generated through deploying the first floating offshore wind capacity, resulting from the current Leasing Round 5 process, in the waters off South Wales and South-West England. The research highlighted a number of opportunities for supply chain development essential for the deployment of these floating wind farms, including: floating platform components; dynamic cables and connections; wet storage infrastructure and facilities; operations and management infrastructure and facilities; and skills transition facilities. Successful projects were rigorously evaluated and selected based on a number of criteria, one of which was their ability to deliver on the requirements of the Celtic Sea Blueprint. This was the initial round of funding allocated by The Crown Estate to address some of these opportunities with a further £45m earmarked for future rounds that could potentially be deployed to support further projects around the UK that meet the opportunities identified by the Industrial Growth Plan (IGP) for the offshore wind sector. The Crown Estate’s role is to create long-term value for the country, and it focuses on using the land and seabed it manages to help catalyse net zero, restore nature, create thriving communities and drive economic growth. Helping to develop the offshore wind industry’s domestic supply chain through collaboration with industry and government partners forms a vital component of these ambitions. The UK is already a global leader in offshore wind, and the pipeline grew by 10GW in 2023 to 93GW, with the sector producing 49TWh of electricity last year, according to The Crown Estate’s most recent UK Offshore Wind Report. This announcement comes as the UK Government continues to set out details of Great British Energy, including a new partnership with The Crown Estate to support the accelerated delivery of clean energy infrastructure, benefiting millions of homes and businesses across the country. Ben Brinded, Head of Investment at The Crown Estate, said: “This is a significant moment for The Crown Estate as our first funding into the UK’s offshore wind supply chain, and I would like to congratulate the 13 organisations on their success. “As outlined by the Government’s emerging Industrial Strategy, in order for the UK to realise the economic benefits from the clean energy sector – and from offshore wind in particular – it is vital that there are mature, investable propositions which crowd in investments from both public and private capital. “The Supply Chain Accelerator forms part of an active dialogue that we’re having with the Offshore Wind sector and with key stakeholders such as Great British Energy and others to identify and explore opportunities for TCE to make commercial and sustainable investments into the UK offshore wind supply chain.” Energy Minister Michael Shanks said: “Our clean power mission brings with it huge potential to expand our supply chains, creating skilled jobs and growth across the country. “This investment from The Crown Estate will support 13 firms up and down Great Britain and use their manufacturing expertise to help us lead the way in developing innovative floating offshore wind technology. “Great British Energy will build on this innovation by working with The Crown Estate to accelerate offshore wind projects, helping to protect homes and businesses from unstable fossil fuel markets.” Juergen Maier CBE, Chair of Great British Energy, said:“Creating good manufacturing jobs is at the heart of our plans to expand the UK’s clean power production – and this investment will help to do just that. “Together with organisations like The Crown Estate, Great British Energy will pave the way for strong domestic supply chains and unlock investment in vital clean energy infrastructure across the UK.” For more information on the Supply Chain Accelerator, please visit: Supply Chain Accelerator Fund | The Crown Estate List of organisations to receive funding through The Crown Estate’s Supply Chain Accelerator: Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

As the global wind industry prepares for GWEC’s Wind Energy Summit in South Korea later this week, Principle Power and Shoreline Wind demonstrate how Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) has moved forward as a result of its almost ten-year partnership and collaboration, ready for FOW developers to take advantage of the opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region and globally. The Global Wind Energy Council expects the Asian offshore market to have installed nearly 100 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, of which the floating category will be a substantial percentage. FOW enables harvesting the strongest wind resources closest to demand centers in the Asia-Pacific region, presenting an opportunity for countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines. The predicted growth of FOW in places like Asia-Pacific is, to a large degree, enabled by the proven experience gained through the deployment of floating wind projects in Europe, where Principle Power has 75 MW operating and another 30 MW under construction. Principle Power has pioneered the development of floating wind technology since 2007. In 2016, Principle Power selected Shoreline’s simulation solutions, recognizing that planning commercial scale wind farms requires the ability to accurately represent the many inherent complexities and dependencies that go into the logistics to build and operate projects in different geographies. Principle Power was already equipped with five years of operational data from the first pilot project WindFloat 1 off the coast of Portugal, as well as the processes and method statements for projects like WindFloat Atlantic. Shoreline brought its expertise acquired from providing advanced simulations for traditional (fixed) offshore wind from around the world and had already developed a solution (Shoreline Design) that could simulate the design, construction and ongoing operations and maintenance of offshore wind projects. Together, Shoreline and Principle Power collaborated to extend Shoreline’s Construction DesignTM and Operations DesignTM software to be able to realistically simulate the operations required to deliver utility-scale floating wind projects.   Principle Power uses Shoreline’s simulations, in combination with internal databases, to help developers plan operations for many different projects across the world, including the 30 MW Fukushima Forward project in Japan, the 1.2 GW Korea Floating Wind project in Korea, and several projects in Taiwan.  The analysis and simulation of each project helped to identify requirements and bottlenecks for robust planning and are used to optimize costs and performance. They can also stress test project execution plans to understand the potential impact of sensitivity scenarios and mitigating contingency plans. The results, which are based on real-world experience, help to build confidence in scaling up floating offshore wind projects to commercial scale in new markets around the world. Michael Bjerrum, Co-founder and COO at Shoreline said: “There are many features in Shoreline’s product today, dedicated to FOW, which have come because of input from users like Principle Power, and other such pioneers. The dependencies for FOW are unique and very different to traditional fixed offshore wind projects. For example, project developers are faced with the decision about whether to perform wind turbine major component repairs in-situ or by towing platforms to a local port.  The appropriate type of intervention depends on the component to be exchanged and trade-offs such as weather sensitivity, port availability, vessel and crane mobilization times, etc. need to be analysed to characterize the costs and risks. Our software delivers the requirements specified by companies like Principle Power for simulating floating wind projects, giving us a competitive edge and helping us to support the industry advance more confidently to commercial scale.” Inês Serras Pereira, LCoE and Business Intelligence Lead at Principle Power said: “Combining our real-world data from deployment and operations of floating offshore wind projects with Shoreline’s advanced simulation technology, helps us deliver feasible execution and O&M planning to our clients. By accounting for the complex interdependencies between quayside and offshore operations, and considering the inherent variability of weather offshore, we ensure that we provide best case schedules for commercial-scale projects that are deliverable. This provides an excellent starting point for optimization and contingency planning, helping our clients to prioritize the most cost and revenue effective approaches throughout the lifetime of wind projects.” Ocean Winds contracted Shoreline Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) solution (CMMS) for its deployment at WindFloat Atlantic, where Principle Power is providing platform inspection, maintenance, and repair services. Thanks to its contract through WindFloat Atlantic, Shoreline and Principle Power will continue to collaborate to make sure that the simulation capabilities keep pace with the many developments in floating offshore wind such as the in-situ repair that was recently completed at Kincardine. FOW developers across the world should look to adopt the wealth of expertise gained from pioneering projects already operational across Europe. Real-world experiences from partners, combined with bespoke FOW simulation technologies, are instrumental to unlock the full potential of the GWs of deepwater wind resources that are necessary for APAC nations to meet global renewable energy targets. [1] Report published October 2024, entitled – Floating Wind: Anchoring the next Generation Offshore. Offshore Wind industry is expected to reach £1 Trillion / $1.2 Trillion by 2050 Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

Solivus, a leading UK provider of lightweight solar installations for commercial applications, has designed and delivered a £2m solar installation to Farnborough Airport, taking it one step closer to its commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2030. Located in Farnborough, Hampshire, Farnborough Airport is the home of British aviation and widely recognised as Europe’s leading airport for premium travel connectivity. In its ongoing efforts to be a sustainability showcase for other airports around the world, it has a clear strategy in place to reach net zero by 2030, well ahead of the industry standard.  As part of this, Farnborough Airport sought to reduce electricity and gas usage and invest in onsite renewable production. However, the path to self-generation proved less than straightforward. Foremost, due to operational and environmental restrictions on land use, the installation of ground-mounted solar at scale was not possible making rooftop solar the only option. At the same time, the iconic architectural curves of the airport building were not conducive to fitting traditional rigid solar panels while – in common with 40% of commercial buildings like aircraft hangars, the rooftops were unable to support the associated weight. The solution to overcoming these challenges and installing the desired solar was provided through partnering with lightweight solar technology pioneers, Solivus. Offering a competitive performance without the bulk, Solivus’ lightweight solar solution provides a practical, efficient, and cost-effective option for commercial rooftops, allowing large premises to harness solar energy while minimising structural concerns and installation complexities. Furthermore, Solivus’ lightweight solar solution can be used on a wide variety of roof surfaces, and is typically installed with no penetration of the roof itself and has much lower glare characteristics compared to conventional solar panels. Now complete, the installation, which commenced works in January 2024, has seen over 4,000 lightweight solar panels installed on hangars one and two, the terminal, the control tower, and the Airport’s award-winning 169-room hotel, the Aviator Hampshire.  Constituting one of the largest rooftop solar installations in the region, the works will enable up to 25% of the airport’s annual electricity needs to be met, as well as enabling its growing operational fleet of electric vehicles to be charged using self-generated electricity. With approximately 75% of solar energy generated to be used on-site, the remaining 25% will be sold back to the energy supplier, thus making the financial case for solar even more attractive. In total, the installation will deliver over 1,700 kWp of installed capacity, generating over 1.2 GWh of clean energy every year while taking Farnborough Airport a major leap forward in its bold target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. The PV installation is expected to generate over 36 GWh of energy in its lifetime and offset more than 5,000 tonnes of CO2e in that time.  Importantly, the project, which was planned, delivered and executed as a complete solution by Solivus, was meticulously phased to minimise disruption for the busy airport.  Safety was accounted for too. Working closely with the National Air Traffic Services, Solivus’ design was purposefully constructed to minimise any glint and glare. This included a comprehensive feasibility study, testing factors such as generation potential and shading to determine the optimal placement of panels. Farnborough Airport’s ambitions for renewables are expressed by the Group’s CEO, Simon Geere: “In line with our ambition to become a sustainability showcase for airports around the world, we’re proud to have partnered with lightweight solar technology pioneers, Solivus, to install one of the largest rooftop solar projects in the region. The lightweight solar installation is a significant step towards achieving our sustainability objectives, significantly reducing our controllable emissions, as set out in our Net Zero Roadmap, in which we have committed to be Net Zero by 2030 or sooner.” Interestingly, the solar installation aligns with a recent government bill, which encourages the extensive deployment of rooftop solar on domestic industrial and commercial property to make effective use of available surfaces as a priority. Solivus CEO, Jo Parker-Swift says: “Rooftop solar is crucial for decarbonising the built environment, but its application has often been constrained by the structural limitations of many commercial buildings. Put simply, traditional solar panels are too heavy for many rooftops. Our lightweight solar innovation addresses this issue, enabling large-scale, cost-effective solar deployment across nearly all large commercial buildings and sites. “We are proud to have worked with Farnborough Airport to ensure the future supply of renewable energy, supporting the airport’s progressive net zero emissions journey. We encourage other airports to seize the opportunity to benefit from our lightweight solar energy installations and advance their own sustainability initiatives. For further information please visit: https://www.solivus.com/ Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals