GE Renewable Energy's Haliade-X nacelle arriving at ORE Catapult, Blyth

GE's Haliade-X nacelle arrives at ORE Catapult's testing facilities in Blyth.

A nacelle from GE Renewable Energy’s Haliade-X offshore wind turbine has arrived at our testing and validation facilities in Blyth. The 12MW nacelle will be put through a rigorous testing programme to prepare it for years of operation in the harsh offshore environment.

The nacelle will join the Haliade-X’s 107m turbine blade that arrived at ORE Catapult earlier this year. Both components will undergo full indoor testing as part of GE’s global testing programme, mimicking real-world operational conditions.

Andrew Jamieson, CEO of ORE Catapult said: "Testing these world-leading technologies in the UK cements our position as a global leader in offshore wind and presents unparalleled opportunities for the UK supply chain to develop new products and services, creating jobs and generating economic benefit."

Robotics development will be a key focus for our team in the Humber.

ORE Catapult's Humber region expansion plans announced

This month, we revealed our ambitious expansion plans in the Humber region, which included a commitment to open a technology innovation and operations base in Grimsby as well as creating up to 70 jobs in the region over the next 10 years.

The Humber region has extensive experience and infrastructure to facilitate offshore wind farms and has quickly established itself as the UK’s centre of excellence in operating and maintaining the existing UK offshore wind fleet.

Utilising and strengthening the existing relationships and collaborations as an active member of Aura, ORE Catapult aims to expand its presence and portfolio of offshore wind O&M projects in the area.

The Offshore Wind Innovation Hub introduces Health & Safety criteria in its Innovation Roadmaps 

The Offshore Wind Innovation Hub (OWIH) will now consider health and safety criteria in assessing and prioritising the technology innovation needs of the offshore wind industry. This new scoring criteria will better evaluate the sector’s developments in health and safety and allow a comparison between current trends and the Offshore Wind Sector Deal commitments.

Health and Safety has become a key focus for the offshore renewable sector as it works towards limiting the time technicians spend at sea as well as improving conditions where offshore technicians are necessary. Investing in improvements to health and safety is essential for wind farm operators in order to lower operating costs.

World's first floating offshore wind farm - Hywind Scotland

Equinor and ORE Catapult join forces to share Hywind Scotland operational data.

Equinor and Masdar have joined forces with the Catapult to share floating wind data from Hywind Scotland on our Platform for Operational Data (POD) service. This will provide businesses and academia with free access to data sets and drive innovation and research in the sector. The data sharing platform will better engage the offshore wind supply chain to foster industry collaboration and accelerate the commercialisation of floating offshore wind.

Hywind Scotland is the world's first floating offshore wind farm and is located 25km east of Peterhead, Scotland. The five turbine wind farm has a 30MW installed capacity - enough to power around 22,000 homes. 

Our Operational Performance Director, Chris Hill, said: "The inclusion of free to use operational data from Hywind Scotland will be a great addition to our POD service, and greatly enhance our offering to our users."