Canada—Marine Renewables Supply Chain Assessment

Marine Renewables Canada commissioned a study to further assess how to expand its small and medium enterprise members’ access to domestic and international markets. DAI’s Sustainable Business Group (SBG) performed a quantitative study to identify the size of the market for Nova Scotian firms interested in exporting their services to the France, Indonesia, Northeastern United States, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. The study also developed a methodology to assess the capacity of Nova Scotian suppliers to meet the requirements of the export markets and identified market opportunities and barriers. Through the study, SBG developed a framework to quantify opportunities in the marine renewables industry by supply chain category. The framework included a review of standard offshore wind and tidal goods and services requirements and projected spend profiles to better understand procurement cycles. Goods and services were then mapped to 45 specialized supply chain categories specific to the marine renewables industry (tidal and offshore wind), and each category was then mapped to both the International Standard Industrial Classification  and Canadian bid solicitation code.  

The supply chain development required detailed understanding of the requirements for tidal and offshore wind projects at each project phase including pre-feasibility, development, installation, and long-term operations. SBG identified the top Nova Scotian supply chains that were most competitive for offshore wind and tidal procurements were: marine works, professional and consulting services, information and communications systems, procurement of specialized heavy equipment, and engineering, testing, and inspection activities. The findings were presented in a workshop to local marine services businesses to help them in their decisionmaking to bid on procurements in offshore wind and tidal energy.