The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) have launched the INTOG Innovation Network, focusing on maximising the impact of commercial, pilot scale, innovative, floating wind projects through the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process.
The INTOG leasing round, managed by Crown Estate Scotland, is designed both to use floating offshore wind to directly reduce emissions from oil and gas production (TOG) and to develop a series of agreements for commercial pilot scale (less than 100 MW) innovation projects (IN).
The Innovation Network focuses purely on the innovation element of the INTOG leasing round, facilitating research, development, and engagement scopes for the five projects allocated exclusivity agreements, said ORE Catapult.
“Coming ahead of the build out of the large scale ScotWind sites, these projects offer a fantastic opportunity for industry to learn more about how to overcome the challenges, and maximise the potential, of new floating wind technology,” said Andy Macdonald , Director of Development and Operations at ORE Catapult.
The priorities of this work include building collaborative relationships between projects and identifying common innovation and technology challenges and opportunities as well as sharing lessons learned to inform future projects as well as with the wider floating wind industry.
Other main priorities include exploring opportunities to test and demonstrate technologies for the intended purposes of increasing technology readiness levels and de-risking technologies ready for deployment.