Global Offshore Wind, Manchester, 2024

A few weeks ago I enjoyed delivering a talk at St Pancras at the southern end of the old Midland Railway line. Billed as a World Hydrogen Leaders masterclass on hydrogen carbon capture and storage. It was well received.

Today, it's nice to be in stealth mode and wander the northern elements of that same railway at a splendid former terminus at Manchester Central.

The global offshore is in my backyard this week, so it is nice to rock up to take a flavour of what was happening. I detect some interesting dynamics this year with the supply chain was out in force but also to certain regions and particularly clusters and ports.

I also noticed the prominence of both Norway and the Netherlands which I think is significant, and also a significant number of references to Ireland. It's not been a smooth ride for the Irish offshore wind regime but lets' see what emerges..

Irish tectonics seem to be falling into place, and listening to some of the commentators, it might be an all Ireland rather than a north or south offer coming up. I'll keep

As for the sessions I spent time listening to speakers opining on local content and especially innovation

The innovation on offers is qualified and only innovation to a point. There is much talk about digital twins, which we were looking at with Shell over a quarter of a century ago.

Nevertheless certain companies seem very focused on taking that technology forward. A couple of mentions of AI.

I listened in vain for mention of innovations in Greater Manchester, for example last week's announcement of the cryogenic storage facility at former shell site at Carrington with its focus on solar and wind and also the Carlton power green hydrogen facility, which hasn't really sunk into the mainstream consciousness.

Back in 2020, when my offshore wind and hydrogen training began to gain global traction I decided to set up a forum where delegates could keep in touch with the tutor, me, but also fellow participants. I thought it may attract a couple of dozen diehards for a course I still enjoy teaching, face to face, around the world.

There is then a nice circularity around the world's first industrial city being among the drivers of the fourth industrial revolution. Let's hope the prize doesn't slip through our fingers. I couldn't resist a brief smile as the sector-leading moderated focus group celebrates the joining of its five-thousandth member:

So stay informed with over 5000 sectoral professionals at the moderated focus group; Offshore Wind and Hydrogen