The Global Underwater Hub (GUH), which represents the UK’s £9 billion subsea industry, has expressed strong support for a new high-voltage deep-sea cable production facility planned at the Port of Tyne.
GUH, a trade and development organization, welcomes this investment. It says manufacturing underwater cables is essential to achieving the UK’s clean offshore power goals and meeting global net-zero emissions targets. The facility would help the UK move closer to becoming a leading centre for subsea cables. These cables carry electricity from offshore wind farms to the national grid.
Neil Gordon, GUH’s chief executive, explained the global context. He said the world expects to invest over $800 billion in offshore wind farms by 2030. To reach net-zero emissions by 2050, the capacity of offshore wind energy must grow by 1,120 gigawatts.
Gordon added that the UK government has set a goal to install 50 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030.
He said this large growth in both fixed and floating offshore wind can only happen if the UK manufactures, installs, and maintains hundreds of thousands of kilometres of reliable underwater cables.
He also noted that floating offshore wind farms need more complex, dynamic cables. Because these are becoming a bigger part of the energy mix, the UK must speed up building its capacity to make, test, install, and operate subsea cables.
Gordon concluded by saying the new cable factory is a big opportunity for both the UK and the North-east of England. The region already has a strong, globally respected manufacturing base. GUH’s office in Newcastle is ready to help secure approval for the project and support the creation of jobs and supply chain growth.
