Strengthening UK Energy Security
Building the infrastructure behind the UK’s energy future
The energy system in the UK is rapidly changing.
Demand for electricity is growing, and new connections are needed to deliver the electrons from where they are generated to where they are consumed.
But generating more electricity is only part of the challenge. The UK also needs the infrastructure, skills and industrial capability to connect and protect its energy system.
Aquora helps meet that need.
The infrastructure challenge
The UK and Europe face growing demand for the specialist high-voltage cables, vessels and expertise needed to connect offshore wind and other critical energy infrastructure to the grid.
There is a significant gap between future requirements and existing capacity: around 100,000 km of high-voltage cable could be needed for European offshore wind and interconnectors over the next decade, compared with historic installation rates of around 3,500 km a year.
Energy security depends on infrastructure
The UK’s energy security increasingly depends on the resilience of the infrastructure connecting its energy system.
As offshore wind generation grows and subsea power networks expand, the ability to install, inspect, maintain and rapidly repair critical subsea connections becomes increasingly important. However, current specialist capacity to provide these services is limited.
Building greater domestic capability can reduce reliance on constrained international capacity and strengthen Britain’s ability to protect the infrastructure on which it increasingly depends.
A strategic opportunity for the UK
The transformation of the UK energy system is also an opportunity to build long-term industrial capability.
Greater domestic subsea capability can create highly skilled jobs, strengthen UK supply chains and support investment in the infrastructure required for the country’s future energy system.
The opportunity is not only to build the UK’s energy infrastructure, but to build the industrial capability needed to deliver it.
Why Aquora
Aquora exists to tackle that challenge and capture this opportunity head on.
We are bringing engineering, procurement, construction, and installation together, supported by dedicated cable-laying and repair capability to support the infrastructure connecting offshore wind, interconnectors and the wider electricity system.
Our ambition extends beyond delivering individual projects. We want to help build lasting domestic capability: specialist expertise, marine assets, skilled employment and, in time, subsea cable manufacturing.