ORE Catapult and Vattenfall Extend Test Facility Agreement in Scotland

Business & Finance

April 2, 2024, by Adnan Memija

The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and Vattenfall have signed a three-year extension on their testing and demonstration collaboration at the 96.8 MW Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm, also known as the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) in Scotland.

The partnership at the 96.8MW offshore wind test and demonstration facility first began in 2019. Since then, technologies that have the potential to address operation and maintenance challenges currently facing offshore wind farms have been tested at the site, such as blade repair, leading edge erosion, robotics, remote cable monitoring, and remote and autonomous inspection.

Now, more companies ready to test their technologies offshore will be supported by ORE Catapult and Vattenfall at the eleven-turbine wind farm, 2.5 kilometres off the Aberdeen coast, until the end of 2026, the company said.

“The UK is internationally recognised for technological innovation, but there is a need to fast track the commercialisation of these technologies and boost supply chain opportunities in the years to come,” said Hugh Riddell, Regional Partnership Manager at ORE Catapult.

“De-risking their innovations on an operating offshore wind farm in the north east of Scotland, which is already home to so many innovative engineering companies, will help to accelerate routes to market, increase confidence for potential customers, and further support the growth of offshore wind as part of the race to Net Zero.”

Geo-data specialist Fugro completed the world’s first fully remote ROV inspection of an offshore wind farm at the Aberdeen site last year.

Their uncrewed surface vessel (USV), Blue Essence, and electric remotely operated vehicle (eROV), Blue Volta, delivered an in-depth inspection, with the crew safely onshore.

Since then, Fugro has expanded its USV fleet in Europe, completing multiple pipeline inspections and further wind farm asset integrity surveys.