Monthly Newsletter from the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
JUNE, 2020
Latest News, Insight and Analysis
Hello and welcome to the June edition of Re-Energise Online!
As the Coronavirus restrictions continue to ease around the world, here at ORE Catapult we are continuing to operate almost business-as-usual. Our testing and business support projects and programmes are continuing, with some positive progress and successes this month. Read more below.
This month, we announced that eight UK innovators secured major collaborations to meet China's green energy demands, with support from our TORC research and incubation centre. Our Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence received backing from several of the offshore renewable energy industry's major players - an important milestone in advancing floating wind technology. Our SPOWTT project concluded successfully, developing a tool to reduce the impact of choppy sea conditions on offshore wind farm technicians. A year on from its launch, the MIMRee project reports impressive progress updates.
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.
The UK’s green recovery starts here. Explore our Levenmouth Demonstration Turbine, the world’s largest and most advanced open access offshore wind turbine dedicated to research and demonstration at the click of a button.
Our 7 MW turbine is a hub for some of the offshore wind industry’s exciting new areas for technology development. It overcomes one of the biggest challenges in our industry for SMEs - the lack of demonstration facilities - to help the supply chain prove their technology and push it one step further to commercialisation.
Watch the video below to gain a glimpse into just some of the industry innovation activity that’s taking place at the Levenmouth Demonstration Turbine.
Bringing UK Innovations to China's Green Energy Market
TUS-ORE Catapult Research Centre, China
Eight green energy innovators secured major collaborations to supply the world’s fastest growing offshore and renewable energy markets. These UK innovators have signed significant new agreements to develop and provide renewable energy technologies, services and research in China.
Dr Stephen Wyatt, Director of Research and Disruptive Innovation for ORE Catapult, said: “We are delighted that these companies have partnered with our research and innovation centre in Yantai to take their world-leading technology to the Chinese offshore wind market, which is forecast to be the biggest in the world by 2030.”
Ten of the world’s leading offshore energy organisations have joined forces with our national Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FOWCoE) to drive forward the development of next-generation offshore wind technologies.
FOWCoE will focus on all areas of floating wind activity in the UK across four key workstreams – technology development, supply chain and operations, development and consent, and delivering net zero. As part of the Centre of Excellence, we will use our world-class skills and expertise to benchmark global standards for floating offshore wind and reinforce the UK’s position as a global leader.
The Centre will work closely with stakeholders across the sector. This collaborative approach will enable the Centre to deliver and coordinate a range of world-leading activities, including a portfolio of collaborative projects.
Autonomous Systems and Robotic Technology in Offshore Wind
One year on from the launch of MIMRee (Multi-Platform Inspection, Maintenance and Repair in Extreme Environments), the £4.2m project reports breakthroughs in its quest to demonstrate an end-to-end autonomous inspect and repair mission to offshore wind farms.
These impressive milestones include blur-free imagery of moving blades; the integration of mission planning software with inspection drones and a vessel; BladeBUG technology proven at our National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth and the testing of forensic imaging.
Chris Hill, Operational Performance Director at the ORE Catapult: "Robotics and autonomous systems are vital to optimising offshore wind operations and meeting our net-zero targets by mid-century. UK companies are well placed to lead this technological revolution and having a project like MIMRee home-grown in the UK, spearheaded by UK businesses and our leading academic institutions, gives us a competitive advantage for the supply chain of the future."
SPOWTT: Could Sea Sickness be a Thing of the Past?
A €3.6 million European project to study the psychological and physiological wellbeing of crew being transferred to offshore wind farms in rough waters has produced a sail/no sail decision-support tool for marine coordinators, as well as a new understanding of seasickness and how it develops.
The SPOWTT (Improving the Safety and Productivity of Offshore Wind Technicians in Transit) project took a novel approach by using digital technology to create a decision-making tool that allows marine coordinators to make a more informed decision regarding crew transfers. SPOWTT has, for the first time, measured in parallel the motion of crew transfer vessels in certain weather conditions and sea states, as well as the psychological and physiological well-being of the technicians onboard.
Andrew Stormonth-Darling, Project Manager at ORE Catapult, said: “The model and tool will improve the health, safety and wellbeing of technicians and the productivity of offshore wind farms, allowing wind farm marine coordinators to make more informed decisions on vessel design for particular sites and when to authorise transits.”
With most aspects of our lives becoming ever more digitalised, the issue of cybersecurity has never been more important. The increasing abundance of big data and our reliance on cyberspace has improved the productivity and efficiency of our energy production but has also left us more vulnerable than ever to cyber-attacks. But what exactly is cybersecurity and how does it relate to offshore renewable energy?
As part of theWind Digital Innovation Forum, ORE Catapult is running several cybersecurity events over the coming weeks to provide offshore wind stakeholders with a greater understanding of this how important cybersecurity is to protecting offshore wind farms from cyber-attacks.
