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structure Bank, which Bryce described as a new bank set up by the UK government to fund projects that are green, create jobs, and can’t be conventionally funded due to some unusual circumstance. “There’s no promises from them at the moment. We’ve certainly opened a line of communica- tion and we’ll see how it goes.”

Zero-C has also been exploring other fnancial avenues, but Bryce said these have mostly closed off due to uncer- tainties created by the Ukraine confict. “It’s beyond frus- trating that we can’t get the capital markets to engage in this at the moment,” he said. “We’re guided by some big banks at the moment. We speak to three on an ongoing basis. Very, very supportive. But the reality is that IPO markets are pretty much closed at the moment. It doesn’t matter what story you’ve got.”

Bryce and Zero-C Offshore are pushing forward, keep- ing in sight the offshore wind industry’s desperate need for

FIVs. “I spoke to the chief fnancial offcer of a very well- known Scandinavian investment bank at the start of this year, and I described [the FIV shortage]. He said he’d never seen such a chronic supply of bottleneck and looming in one industry,” Bryce said. “When we’re having our tricky moments trying to get this funded or trying conversations,

I remember what he said. I was right, and he was right.

And there will be a point when this whole sector burst into life. You heard it here frst.”

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 OFFSHORE ENGINEER 29