Britain's plan to profit from the offshore wind boom has been blown off course

There are more wind farms across British waters than anywhere else in the world, but local businesses and workers have yet to reap the rewards. 

That is a huge policy mistake.

When turbine blades began spinning last August at Hornsea 2 — the world’s biggest offshore wind farm off the coast of Yorkshire — it was a symbolic victory for the UK in its attempts to reclaim its position as the leading nation in the offshore wind market. 

The country famously holds the largest share of offshore wind capacity in the world, followed by China and Germany.

However, promises that offshore wind would spark a new industrial revolution for Britain have been blown off course, as the country is yet to enjoy a manufacturing and jobs boom. 

That is because most offshore wind developers are foreign-owned. 

Of all current and pending British offshore wind capacity, 82.2% is owned by companies located overseas, according to the Common Wealth think tank.

On top of that, more than two-thirds of offshore wind firms operating in the UK have their base elsewhere in Europe.

The businesses that make up the supply chain — the makers of blades, foundations and high-voltage cables — often come from abroad, too. 

Of the four companies that accounted for 55% of new orders globally of turbine manufacturing in 2019, not a single one was British.

Although the government has handed out generous subsidies during the past decade to incentivise the development of new offshore wind farms, and capacity has grown twentyfold, the UK is alone among the ten main countries leading the energy transition in lacking a national champion.

As a result, it is European energy giants such as Denmark’s Ørsted and Norway's state-owned Equinor who are investing in building wind farms and