R&D

ORE Catapult, Bladena to Trial Blade Reinforcement Tech

The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult has signed an agreement with Bladena to test blade reinforcement technology designed to extend the operational life of offshore wind turbines. The full-scale testing programme at ORE Catapult’s National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth, the UK, will use a

Mingyang to Test 18.5 MW Offshore Wind Turbine Component at ORE Catapult’s UK Facility

Mingyang Smart Energy and the UK’s Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult have signed a contract to provide testing and validation of the main bearing for Mingyang Smart Energy’s 18.5 MW offshore wind turbine. The test piece is scheduled to arrive at ORE Catapult’s National Renewable Energy Centre

UK’s NOC Develops Roadmap for Offshore Wind Environmental Monitoring

The UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has delivered a roadmap to improve ocean observation and enhance understanding of the potential impacts of expanding offshore wind developments on the marine environment. The Scoping an Offshore Wind Sustained Observation Programme report was commissioned

UK Gov’t Takes Action to Curb Underwater Noise in Offshore Wind Development

The UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has unveiled new measures to minimise underwater noise levels during the construction of offshore wind projects. As part of the government’s Plan for Change, the measures should reduce noise levels in the sea to allow new offshore wind

TotalEnergies Kicks Off Offshore Lidar Project in UK and Japan

TotalEnergies has commissioned Fraunhofer IWES and Oldbaum to perform lidar-based measurement campaigns in the UK and Japan. With dual-Doppler scanning lidar technology, two measuring devices are operated synchronously at different onshore locations where they are aligned in such a way that the lase

Joint Industry Project Launches to Create Nature-Friendly Offshore Wind Farms

Wood Thilsted has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with multiple industry and research institutions to jointly advance nature inclusivity in offshore wind farm design. The Joint Industry Project (JIP) aims to explore and redefine what it means to create offshore wind farms that positively

OEUK Publishes Offshore Wind Decommissioning Guidelines

Decommissioning specialists, led by Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), have produced a “pioneering” set of guidelines for the removal of offshore wind turbines that have reached the end of their useful life. Decommissioning of the first generation of wind turbines is already in progress, and as the offsho

The Crown Estate Backs Offshore Wind and Marine Research with GBP 7.3 Million

New Partnership to Develop Next-Gen SOV for Floating Offshore Wind Projects

North Star, a service operations vessel (SOV) operator in the UK’s renewable industry, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with MO4, Principle Power, SMST, Vard, and Voith Group to form a working group aimed at developing a new SOV concept for floating offshore wind. The six organisations

Fugro to Start Geotechnical Survey Work at Dogger Bank South West Site

The Fugro Quest vessel, operated by Fugro, is en route to the northeast coast of England to begin geotechnical survey work on the site of the proposed Dogger Bank South (DBS) West, one of two proposed DBS offshore wind farms. Fugro Quest, launched in 2022, left Falmouth on 23 July 2024 to initiate g

UK Company Unveils Mooring Solution for Floating Offshore Wind

UK-based Blackfish Engineering has unveiled a mooring system, called C-Dart, which eliminates the direct handling of heavy mooring lines by operational personnel. The system is designed to rapidly connect various floating structures and assets, including wave and tidal energy converters, offshore wi

New Partnership Plans to Deploy Large USV Fleet for Offshore Wind Data Collection

UK-headquartered BMT has joined forces with Australia-based Ocius Technology intending to deploy a fleet of around 1,000 uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) that will create an interconnected system of remote sensors that supply data for the development of offshore wind projects. The deployment of these