SWEDISH energy group Vattenfall and the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult are to collaborate on cutting costs and improving safety in offshore wind operations.
Vattenfall and the technology and innovation resource centre said an alliance would help strengthen the UK supply chain and underpin a competitive offshore wind industry. It will also allow innovators to test and demonstrate new technology in real-world operating conditions at Vattenfall’s European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) off Aberdeen.
The EOWDC, supported by the EU with a €40 million grant, is an offshore wind test and demonstration facility. It recently completed the installation of 11 wind turbines and foundations, and will be fully operational later this summer.
Gunnar Groebler, head of Vattenfall’s Business Area Wind, said this latest move would continue the “pioneering spirit” already demonstrated by the energy firm’s deployment of “game-changing technology” at the EOWDC. “We do that and we get to freedom from fossil fuel faster,” he said.
ORE Catapult’s operational performance director, Chris Hill, said: “To meet the sector’s ambitious targets, innovation is going to be a key enabler. Facilitating technology demonstration opportunities is the next logical step for innovators in the derisking process, going from the lab to testing, using facilities such as at the Catapult’s Levenmouth and Blyth sites, or in the offshore operational environment at EOWDC.”
ORE Catapult was established in 2013 by the UK Government and is one of a network of Catapults set up by Innovate UK in high-growth industries. It is the UK’s flagship technology innovation and research centre for offshore wind, wave and tidal energy, and helps to reduce the cost of offshore renewable energy, supporting the growth of the industry and creating UK benefit.
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