Welsh marine energy company lands support for floating offshore wind plans

Marine Power Systems (MPS) has secured the support of the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OGWP) through the Wind Expert Support Toolkit (WEST) programme to further advance its floating offshore wind commercialisation strategy.

The WEST programme provides needs-focussed expert business support, market intelligence and sector insights to existing and cross-sector supply chain companies to help meet the needs of the sector, build a strong UK supply chain and maximise the economic benefits of the UK’s world leading position in offshore wind.

Through the partnership programme, MPS said it would work closely with a reputable global partner, bringing significant knowledge and experience in floating offshore wind, to accelerate and optimise their commercial strategy and ensure the business and their strategic partners capitalise from the huge global opportunity floating offshore wind represents.

Martin Carruth, commercial director at MPS, said: “The support we receive will help us further sharpen our commercial strategy and the targeting of the multiple markets our unique and modular technology supports. From utility-scale grid-connected farms, where our clients recognise the additional value derived from a combined wind and wave device to oil and gas platform electrification and supporting generation of green hydrogen”.

The partnership follows the completion of MPS’ crowdfunding round where the business raised £4.2 million, doubling its original target.

The company is now working on the deployment of a grid-connected commercial megawatt-scale wind and wave device in northern Spain at the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP), as well as the deployment of a pre-commercial scale array at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Scotland.

At the EMEC site, a seabed survey has been completed and the collected data being fed into the detailed design of the anchoring and mooring system, MPS said.

The technology developed by MPS can can be configured to harness wind and wave energy either as a combined solution or on their own in deep water.

According to the company, the comparisons to equivalent technologies for floating platforms indicate that its platform technology, with a combined wind and wave ability, is extremely cost-effective when deployed at scale and is forecast to be cost-competitive with fixed offshore wind.