A new industry-led initiative aimed at accelerating offshore wind innovation and strengthening the UK’s manufacturing base was launched on 16 June.
The Wind Innovation Hub, announced at the Global Offshore Wind event, has been established as an independent partnership bringing together the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, the National Composites Centre (NCC) and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), both part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.
Funded by Innovate UK, the initiative aims to accelerate the development and industrial deployment of new offshore wind technologies by coordinating efforts across industry, government and academia. Its activities will focus on five priority areas identified in the UK’s Offshore Wind Industrial Growth Plan: advanced turbine technologies, industrialised foundations and substructures, future electrical systems and cables, smart environmental services, and next-generation installation, operations and maintenance (O&M) technologies.
The Hub’s first programme will be a GBP 2 million (around EUR 2.3 million) “Accelerating Innovations” initiative designed to support UK companies developing technologies aligned with those priorities. Participating businesses will receive technical assistance, manufacturing and materials expertise, testing and validation support, commercial readiness guidance and help accessing investment.
According to the organisations behind the initiative, the Wind Innovation Hub is planned to bridge the gap between research and commercial deployment, helping promising technologies move more quickly into industrial-scale application and strengthening domestic supply chains.
“The UK has built a global leadership position in offshore wind, but staying ahead will take faster innovation, stronger collaboration and better support for the technologies and businesses shaping the next generation of projects. The Wind Innovation Hub has been created to do exactly that “, said Lynne McIntosh-Grieve , Programme Director for the Wind Innovation Hub.
“Our role is to identify and accelerate the innovations and technologies the sector needs most, focusing effort on the five key technology areas identified in the Industrial Growth Plan. By combining market intelligence, roadmapping and hands-on technical support, the Wind Innovation Hub will connect the right challenge to the right expertise – and turn shared insight into coordinated action.”
The Hub will seek to identify technology priorities, address knowledge gaps, support demonstration projects and help de-risk emerging technologies and manufacturing processes. The initiative is also expected to create a more connected industrial pathway for offshore wind development and increase the amount of economic value captured within the UK supply chain.