1. Innovation and Offshore Renewables
Stephen Wyatt
Director, Research and Innovation
10 October 2017

2. ORE Catapult: The UK’s technology innovation centre for offshore renewables
1 of 11 national Catapults, technology innovation centers in key sectors for the UK economy (others inc. Value Manufacturing, Cell and Gene Therapies, Satellite apps).
Funded by UK Government, industry and bid-for research grants
Effectively a Government research and innovation lab with a hands on role to support high potential companies
80+ technical experts
£150m of open access labs
Active in £27m of research projects.
151 partnerships with SMEs
Strong partnerships with leading universities
£15m/yr Gov stipend
80+ technical experts

3. Why Innovate?

4. Innovate out of necessity….

5. Innovate to meet a challenge….

6. UK has 5.5 GW of offshore wind installed, ~19GW in the pipeline
50 companies - Whose product development we’ve supported through our testing & validation services
151 SMEs - We’ve supported
Operating £1/4bn - of world-leading test and demonstration facilities in support of UK innovation
75% - Year on year uplift on competitive R&D
Global reach - 18 countries we have worked with to develop opportunities for UK supply chain
World firsts First benchmarking platform for offshore wind turbines
Operating largest indoor blade test facility
World’s largest open access offshore wind turbine dedicated to research
First accelerated testing of 66KV cable
1:4:27 - For every £1 of core grant invested we have secured £4 of additional research income driving £27 of research for industry
c£4.9m - Invested in procuring capital equipment, materials & engineering and consulting services from our supply chain.
23 - Competitively won R&D projects
£6.2 - Invested in building team of leading engineering and research specialists
£5.7m - Expenditure on collaborative projects and programmes in 2015/16
The UK has a large pipeline of future sites
Future sites will be further offshore
Today offshore wind provides 10% of the UKs electricity

7. Innovation out of Necessity and Challenge: in 2013 offshore wind set out clear targets for cost reduction

8. Offshore wind is rising to the challenge….
~£120/MWh 2015 vs. £54/MWh 2017
Holland*
Germany* UK
*NL and DE sites exclude grid connection and some consenting costs
Offshore wind auction results across Europe vs. ceiling price

9. Research and Innovation priorities
(Much) Bigger Turbines
+10MW machines (Blades and Drivetrains)
Control and yield
Mass and cooling issues
Long blade technology (~120m)
Automated blade manufacture
The UK energy network:
Major transformation of the energy system is need to occur.
Capacity factor and dispatchability
Levenmouth smart energy demonstrator
Storage: Hydrogen, ammonia.
Offshore substation and array cabes
33kV to 66kV and HVDC
Export cables
DC cables for longer transmission linkages, also require switching / convertor breakthroughs.
New Foundations
XL Monopiles (10 to 40m depth)
Jackets (30m to 60m depth)
Later: Floating platforms
Smart O&M
Robotics and AI Sophisticated planning, optimised CTV’s, autonomous vessels, shared facilities

10. Links to ETP KEN programme
Commercialising research: New products & businesses for a step change in technology
Links to ETP KEN programme

11. We are structured around 4 delivery areaso
New energy generation industries perhaps come along once in a lifetime
The UK is genuinely a world leader in offshore wind deployment, and Research and Innovation
An exciting industry at an exciting time