What is the value of innovative offshore renewable energy deployment to the UK economy?
D.R. Noble, K. Grattan, H. Jeffrey, Policy and Innovation Group. Updated : April 2025
Part of The Ocean Energy Policymakers Toolkit series.
This updated policy paper from the Supergen ORE Hub, and the Policy and Innovation Group at the University of Edinburgh, highlights the significant potential value to the UK if the UK government invests in developing the local supply chain ahead of deploying these innovative ORE technologies – namely floating offshore wind, tidal stream, and wave energy.
Results are presented across two main scenarios of local ambition, to assess the impact on economic benefit of increasing local content in specific areas of the UK supply chain, for example through targeted investment by the UK government. A Higher Ambition supply chain scenario assumes increased levels of spend for domestic and international deployments retained by the UK supply chain. Conversely, a Lower Ambition supply chain scenario assumes less ambitious retention levels of UK content, and a smaller share in overseas projects.
Results from this work can be summarised as:
High level policy recommendations to facilitate this are given in three themes:
Part of The Ocean Energy Policymakers Toolkit series.
This updated policy paper from the Supergen ORE Hub, and the Policy and Innovation Group at the University of Edinburgh, highlights the significant potential value to the UK if the UK government invests in developing the local supply chain ahead of deploying these innovative ORE technologies – namely floating offshore wind, tidal stream, and wave energy.
Results are presented across two main scenarios of local ambition, to assess the impact on economic benefit of increasing local content in specific areas of the UK supply chain, for example through targeted investment by the UK government. A Higher Ambition supply chain scenario assumes increased levels of spend for domestic and international deployments retained by the UK supply chain. Conversely, a Lower Ambition supply chain scenario assumes less ambitious retention levels of UK content, and a smaller share in overseas projects.
Results from this work can be summarised as:
- UK and international deployments of floating offshore wind, tidal stream and wave energy technologies produce a total of £21bn to £86bn in GVA to the UK economy, dependent on supply chain competitiveness. The higher ambition scenario could lead to nearly 68,000 FTE jobs in 2040, and over 166,000 FTE jobs in 2050.
- Of this total figure, domestic deployments result in £18bn to £41bn in GVA for the UK economy. Within this obtained GVA range, more than double GVA can be observed, due to more ambitious retention assumptions reflecting a stronger UK supply chain. Almost half of the jobs modelled are associated with domestic projects, resulting in a cumulative 756,000 job-years of employment between 2025 and 2050.
- UK content in international deployments could generate a further £3.3bn to £45bn in GVA for the UK economy. Within this obtained GVA range, the higher ambition scenario results in nearly a 14-fold increase in GVA from global exports, highlighting the potential opportunity from a stronger UK supply chain.
- Manufacture of the device, including floating foundations for FOW, accounts for the largest share of both GVA and jobs for all technologies. Indeed, for FOW, manufacture of the floating foundation is the greatest share. Ongoing operations and maintenance over the project lifetime accounts for significant GVA and jobs and is a growing segment over time. Supply of the balance of plant is also an important contribution, particularly for floating offshore wind.
High level policy recommendations to facilitate this are given in three themes:
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Effective market support
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Sustained innovation funding
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Modernisation of the supply chain
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