Scotland’s floating wind cluster DeepWind and Wind’Occ, the regional offshore wind collaborative in the French Occitanie region, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on floating offshore wind and hydrogen supply chain development in Scotland, Occitanie, and internationally.
The two clusters have agreed to champion floating wind by encouraging and facilitating the exchange of knowledge between their members and by promoting business opportunities for their members through ‘Meet the Buyer’ industry events.
Under the MoU, DeepWind and Wind’Occ will also work on enabling the emergence of a local floating wind and hydrogen industry by identifying complementary capabilities, and on promoting research and development opportunities at a local and European level.
“DeepWind welcomes the opportunity that this cooperation agreement with Wind’Occ opens up between Scotland and France to work towards a common goal in the areas of floating wind and hydrogen generation” , said Paul O’Brien , DeepWind Cluster Manager.
“The marriage of these two technologies will be one of the major decarbonisation routes for Europe and this MoU strengthens the already strong ties between the members of both clusters”.
The DeepWind supply chain cluster, which focuses on fixed and floating offshore wind in deeper waters, is now the largest offshore wind representative body in Scotland with more than 700 members drawn from industry, academia and the public sector, according to Scottish Enterprise.
In France, Wind’Occ promotes the floating offshore wind industry in the Occitanie region and brings together companies, academics and local clusters to support local offshore wind activities taking place, working closely with its regional economic development agency, AD’OCC.