ORE Catapult Expands OW Innovation Roadmaps

The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult has added three new categories under the Operations & Maintenance and Windfarm Lifecycle challenge area in Offshore Wind Innovation Hub’s (OWIH) guide.

Project development, Reducing ecological impact and uncertainty, and Decommissioning, as well as a cross area category Enabling Research, have been added following engagement with industry and academia.

OWIH launched the guide in June focusing on the future priorities and opportunities for innovation that will help the sector achieve the goal of having 30GW of offshore wind capacity in the UK by 2030.

The guide includes Turbines, Substructures, Operations & Maintenance and Windfarm Lifecycle, and Electrical Infrastructure challenge areas, which are presented as Innovation Roadmaps.

The four roadmaps are designed to cover all aspects of the construction and O&M of offshore wind farms and build on previous innovation prioritization work undertaken in the sector, such as the Cost Reduction Monitoring Framework.

“The new roadmap elements we’ve introduced offer even more opportunities for companies to get involved in the success story that has been the UK’s offshore wind sector – whether by developing new technologies and ways of working, or by pulling through technologies and expertise from other sectors,” said Dr. Stephen Wyatt, ORE Catapult’s Research & Innovation Director.

“With a UK market expected to be worth £4.9 billion annually by 2030, and £30 billion globally, this represents a huge business opportunity for UK companies to reap the rewards domestically and in new global export markets, creating GVA and high value jobs across the country.”