Purpose

Channel Gateway

 

The Channel Gateway proposal
by Morwind is to construct a new, £600 million, port
facility in Dorset, adjacent to Portland Port, primarily to service the fixed
and floating offshore wind sectors. 

 

The facility will provide a
construction and assembly platform and deep-water quay in an optimal location
because of Portland’s deep-water access at high and low tides, with the primary
capability to manufacture substructures for the largest fixed and floating wind
turbines and assemble turbines and blades for deployment in the Western English
Channel and Celtic Sea.

 

The port platform and
extensive quayside will also provide flexibility to manufacture other
foundations, anchors/moorings, and marine infrastructure and support services
in a strategic location for the UK and continental Europe. 

Content

To offer Morwind, a grant of £375,000 towards the £1.5m budget requirement for the development
of a Full Business Case for the Channel Gateway proposal.  To
offer this funding on a grant-for-equity basis.

 

This decision is taken under the Scheme of Delegation to the Executive
Director – Place, Mr. Jan Britton – in consultation with the Leader of the
Council, Cllr Nick Ireland, and Cabinet Members for Finance and Economic
Development, Cllrs Simon Clifford and Richard Biggs.

 

Reasons for the decision

Dorset Priorities

 

Channel Gateway is at the centre of a series
of inter-related proposals that Dorset Council are supporting through the
Dorset Clean Energy Super Cluster.  Bringing the Channel Gateway proposal
to fruition will help to unlock these other opportunities, including fixed and
floating offshore wind energy, Carbon capture and sequestration and the
production and storage of green Hydrogen.

 

Over a five-to-ten
year horizon, Channel Gateway has the potential to create between 1,500 and
2,000 direct new jobs in Portland, Weymouth and Chickerell - Dorset’s area of
highest economic deprivation and lowest social mobility.  The wider
opportunities in offshore wind, Carbon capture, Hydrogen and other advanced
manufacturing, could indirectly create as many jobs again in the wider supply
chain at the Dorset Innovation Park, in Dorset as a whole and across the
South-West. 

 

Morwind estimate
that as a core component at the centre of the Dorset Clean Energy Super
Cluster, Channel Gateway could create the conditions to unlock up to £28bn of
investment in green growth and clean power, and generate a UK GVA boost of
£5.5bn.

 

Channel Gateway is
therefore directly and significantly relevant to three of Dorset Council’s
corporate priorities: driving economic prosperity; creating sustainable
development; and creating stronger, healthier communities.

Alternative options considered

Morwind are the promoters of Channel Gateway, there
are no alternative options.