Monthly Newsletter from the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
NOVEMBER, 2020
Latest News, Insights and Analysis
Hello and welcome to the November edition of Re-Energise Online!
This month, alongside the Oil and Gas Technology Centre, we published the "Reimagining a Net Zero North Sea: An Integrated Energy Vision for 2050", a report that highlights the opportunity for the oil and gas and renewable energy sectors to work together to transform the UK’s energy system. ORE Catapult also played a key role in the world's first 'blade walk' on a wind turbine as innovative SME, BladeBUG scaled the blades of our Levenmouth Demonstration Turbine. We launched the ELECTRODE programme - the world's first data collection platform that aims to vastly reduce subsea cable failures. Earlier this month, we also announced plans for a new state-of-the-art prototype blade manufacturing facility at our National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth. Finally, congratulations are in order to Tethys and Aerones, who have won major industry backing to develop novel blade maintenance technology.
Contact us at info@ore.catapult.org.uk or via your usual Catapult contact to discuss ways in which we can help and support you.
Reimagining a Net Zero North Sea: An Integrated Energy Vision for 2050
ORE Catapult, alongside the Oil and Gas Technology Centre, has set out direction for the UK's transition to a net zero offshore energy system in the latest report "Reimagining a Net Zero North Sea: An Integrated Energy Vision for 2050". The report highlights the opportunity for the oil and gas and renewable energy sectors to work together to transform the UK’s energy system and help deliver the country’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.
The report suggests up to £416bn of investment is required over the next 30 years, but this creates a fantastic business opportunity that by 2050 could potentially contribute £125bn per year to the UK economy, while supporting more than 230,000 jobs.
The report outlines three scenarios which have been modelled on the Committee on Climate Change’s Further Ambition scenario. Each sees the UK achieve its net zero goal by 2050, using a combination of energy solutions to meet demand, but delivering greatly differing levels of economic benefits and green jobs.
World's first robotic 'blade walk' on a wind turbine takes place
ORE Catapult and innovative SME BladeBUG have achieved the world’s first blade walk by a robot on an offshore wind turbine. It was announced this month that the six-legged inspect-and-repair robot repeatedly scaled blades at our 7MW Levenmouth Demonstration Turbine off the coast of Fife.
The robot is being developed under a £1m collaborative project between BladeBUG and ORE Catapult, part-funded by Innovate UK. By the project’s end next year, BladeBUG will be capable of inspecting blade surfaces for emergent cracks and imperfections, transmitting data on their condition back to shore and resurfacing the blades.
BladeBUG represents a 30% cost reduction on current blade inspection techniques, which are conducted by rope-access technicians, with a measurable knock-on effect to the levelised cost of energy.
ORE Catapult's Operational Director, Chris Hill, said "I consider BladeBUG’s first walk at Levenmouth as offshore wind’s ‘moon walk’ – a historic milestone in the industry’s evolution."
ORE Catapult launch world-first data collection platform to reduce subsea cable failure
This month, we launched the world's first data collection platform that aims to vastly reduce subsea cable failures - ELECTRODE. In a global industry first, ELECTRODE will track cable failure trends and service downtime, as well as the effectiveness of current methods of monitoring, detection and response.
ELECTRODE will involve collaboration and the continuous collection of anonymous data, paving the way for radical advancements in the offshore wind industry. Operated in a similar way to our SPARTA model, anonymity is the core principle of the platform meaning there will be no risk to owner/operators who take part.
Owner/operators will be able to: identify trends and recurring issues, accelerate innovation in reliability, and benchmark themselves against others. ELECTRODE will improve efficiencies and drive down costs, and provide data for presentation to insurers and investors at the negotiation stage.
ORE Catapult to advance next generation blade manufacturing
Credit: High Value Manufacturing Catapult
We are delighted to announce plans for a new state-of-the-art prototype blade manufacturing facility at our National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth.
The Additive Manufacturing for Wind Blades project will install an advanced manufacturing cell capable of proving technologies that can reduce blade manufacturing costs, increase production speeds and explore the potential for new materials with a reduced environmental impact.
The facility will be used to directly support UK SMEs and supply chain development to accelerate new and innovative prototype blade designs for application in the wind industry, as well as forging further ties with key players in industry, such as original equipment manufacturers and academia.
Innovative SMEs, Tethys and Aerones, win major backing to develop novel blade maintenance technology.
Innovative SMEs, Tethys Energy Services and Aerones, have secured major industry backing to develop novel offshore blade maintenance technology.
The two companies won a blade robotics innovation competition launched by GE Renewable Energy, ORE Catapult and KTN, which called for robotics solutions focussed on automating maintenance activities and reducing unplanned offshore activity during the O&M phase of offshore wind turbine blades.
Tethys and Aerones will deliver a new offshore transportation and delivery platform to enable the Aerones onshore wind robotics technology to work offshore. The system will be able to deliver advanced remote inspection, maintenance and repair tasks on offshore wind turbine blades up to 5x faster than conventional rope access, drastically reducing turbine downtime. It is also more scalable and much safer to deploy, removing the need for personnel to work at height.