The UK’s Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult is partnering with China’s Tus-Wind to establish the TUS-ORE Catapult Technology Research Centre in Yantai, Shandong Province.
The research centre represents a GBP 2 million, three-year investment backed by the Yantai local government authority.
The Research Centre’s goal is to drive the development of innovative technologies and support the development of an offshore wind farm of at least 300MW capacity, with a minimum 10% UK content.
This is said to represent a UK supply chain export opportunity of at least GBP 90 million and provide a launch pad for the UK to access the Chinese wind market, estimated to be worth GBP 15 billion by 2030.
Dr Stephen Wyatt, ORE Catapult’s Research & Innovation Director, said: “China is one of the world’s fastest growing markets for offshore wind technologies, and this presents a huge opportunity for technology transfer and for UK companies to export their innovative products and services to one of our largest global trading partners.”
In December 2017, ORE Catapult signed a Research and Development Collaboration Agreement with TUS-Wind and TusPark Newcastle in which the organisations committed to working together to advance offshore wind technology cooperation between the UK and China.
Since then, the Catapult has organised a number of workshops aimed at introducing UK SMEs to the Chinese market and in March 2018 was part of an Innovate UK trade mission to China along with 15 UK companies. The Research Centre is the next stage in further developing the collaboration.