A New Partnership in Offshore Wind

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£19,608,445

Nov. 1, 2017

April 30, 2023

The opening of Siemens new £310m offshore wind (OSW) turbine blade factory in Hull is a milestone for the industry. It coincides with increased investment in operations and maintenance activities to service the increasing capacity of OSW farms, especially by the world's largest OSW developer, DONG Energy. This proposal brings together these two major players with world-leading academic researchers in a £7.64m, 5-year programme. Focussing on TRL1-3 it will address the fundamental research problems that will help to reduce the Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCoE) from OSW and to support UK supply chain growth. The £3.83m requested from EPSRC unlocks £2.50m investment by the industrial players in lower TRL activity that they would not otherwise fund to this level. A further £1.31m is invested by the academic partners.

Potential Impact:
The programme ultimately enables more affordable and efficient technology to facilitate growth of offshore wind power (OSW) to meet energy needs worldwide. It provides growth in the UK OSW supply chain, meeting the national needs of growth in the low-carbon economy, achieving UK CO2 emissions-targets and ensuring resilient low-cost energy. Key beneficiaries include:

1. The UK OSW industry will obtain solutions to key issues impeding the further development of OSW technology - this will allow participants to forge ahead in a rapidly growing, high-demand global sector, developing new products and improve the efficiency and durability of existing technology. They will also benefit from an influx of specialists with a skill set tailored to their specific needs.
2. The British Government and the environment will benefit from resilient and affordable solutions to meet their international obligations for reductions in CO2 emissions.
3. The public will benefit from lower prices for sustainable electricity.
4. Academic research benefits from the dissemination of this internationally leading low-TRL research in high-impact journals and conferences.
5. Young people and under-represented groups will be attracted into engineering and innovation.

Leadership of the programme by the UK's major OSW companies (Siemens and DONG Energy) drives the primary pathway to impact: innovation and growth in the UK OSW supply chain to meet the national needs of low-carbon economic growth, CO2 emissions-targets and resilient low-cost energy. This new industrial and university collaboration is built upon well-established individual partnerships thereby de-risking the translation to industry.

One of the barriers to achieving the required cost reduction in the OSW industry is the presence of disconnects in the delivery chain between the turbine OEM and the wind farm developer/operator. For the first time in the UK, Siemens and DONG Energy will jointly participate in a fundamental research programme to co-create and co-influence sector wide roadmaps. In addition, Siemens and DONG Energy will drive the progression through the TRLs and improve links into the existing mechanisms for supporting early stage ideas in this sector aided by the collaboration with the EPSRC Supergen Wind Hub and ORE Catapult.

Direct impact through the industrial partners includes new generator designs for the next generation of even larger wind turbines at lower capital cost, structural health monitoring for reduced O&M costs, novel designs of blades and foundations.

Creation of a new collaboration between the Universities of Durham, Hull and Sheffield accelerate academic impact for this challenge and the transfer of leading research capabilities into related fields: equipment design, condition monitoring, structural health monitoring, and blade manufacturing and instrumentation.