Five companies operating in the North of Tyne region have been selected to showcase their innovative technologies to offshore wind industry giants Equinor and EDF Renewables as part of the Technology, Innovation and Green Growth for Offshore Renewables (TIGGOR) programme.
The successful companies – Transmission Dynamics, Kinewell Energy, SMD, Trident Dynamics and Unasys – will receive a share of £1.7m in match funding made available through the first round of the TIGGOR programme’s technology demonstration strand, funded by the North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) as part of its wider Energy, Green Growth and Climate Change commitments. NTCA has partnered with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, which is delivering the programme on its behalf.
The companies applied for support to accelerate innovative technology concepts in key areas of operations and maintenance for offshore wind, including remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), digital twins, cable arrays and sensors. They will each now demonstrate their technologies to specialists at Equinor, joint venture partner and future operator of Dogger Bank Wind Farm, and EDF Renewables, which owns and operates the Blyth Offshore Demonstrator wind farm.
In turn, these leading offshore wind owner/operators will provide technology assessment and advice on how these technologies could be applied to offshore wind. ORE Catapult will also provide direct support, including access to test and demonstration facilities at its National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth.
North of Tyne Mayor, Jamie Driscoll, said: “The offshore wind sector is a major strength in North of Tyne. It offers huge potential for good green jobs. We used to have thousands of jobs here in shipbuilding and coal mining. This partnership with ORE Catapult will develop the engineering applications to bring orders here. That means high skilled jobs on good wages and more career opportunities for our kids. Congratulations to the successful companies – it’s through partnership that we’ll get to a net-zero economy.”
Andrew Saunders, Dogger Bank Operations & Maintenance Leader at Equinor, said: “As we build up our operations for Dogger Bank from the Port of Tyne, digitalisation and innovation remain at the core of our operations strategy. We know the North East has a lot to offer and we’re delighted to collaborate with North of Tyne Combined Authority, ORE Catapult and EDF Renewables to deliver this important programme with innovative businesses in the region. Congratulations to the successful companies and we look forward to working with them as a technical advisor to the programme!”
Michele Schiavone, Director of Offshore Wind at EDF Renewables UK, said: “We are excited to see these new innovative technologies and how they can be used in future offshore wind farms. Offshore wind is something we are already developing with our Neart na Gaoithe project in Scotland and Codling in Ireland. We are committed to using local content as we’ve already demonstrated and we are keen to have more offshore projects to help accelerate to net zero.”
Graham Smith, R&D Programmes Manager at ORE Catapult, said: “Supply chain innovation and development is key to the UK maximising impact from the world-leading growth in offshore wind, and this programme provides a platform for companies to both demonstrate their technology and to receive tailored business support. These innovative North East businesses will be well positioned to take full advantage of the huge multi-billion offshore wind supply chain opportunity, further increasing local UK content, jobs and manufacturing”
Andrew Jenkins, CEO and Founder of Kinewell Energy, said: “The Kinewell Energy team are excited to have been selected to participate in TIGGOR by industry giants Equinor, EDF Renewables and ORE Catapult. Our funded project will see us deliver a new-to-market game-changing technology related to offshore wind inter-array cable systems, substantially contributing towards the industry’s continuous cost reduction trajectory. We are a North East-based worldwide company and we look forward to creating more high-value green jobs in the North of Tyne region as we grow.”
Jenny Hudson, Project Manager at Tranmission Dynamics, said: “Transmission Dynamics are committed to continually driving innovation in the offshore wind industry. We are delighted to be supported by the TIGGOR programme to enable us to work with industry partners to develop a new wind turbine asset monitoring solution that is user lead, cost effective and scalable.”
Max Dubois, Managing Director of Trident Dynamics, said: ”Trident Dynamics are developing a range of disruptive marine capabilities specifically for the offshore renewable energy sector. We are delighted to have the support of the TIGGOR programme and look forward to working closely with ORE Catapult.”
The TIGGOR programme is expected to launch a second Technology Demonstration Programme (TDP) funding call in September 2021. For more information and to register your interest, please visit: ore.catapult.org.uk/tiggor
About the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
ORE Catapult was established in 2013 by the UK Government and is part of a network of Catapults set up by Innovate UK in high growth industries. It is the UK’s leading innovation centre for offshore renewable energy.
Independent and trusted, with a unique combination of world-leading test and demonstration facilities and engineering and research expertise, ORE Catapult convenes the sector and delivers applied research, accelerating technology development, reducing risk and cost and enhancing UK-wide economic growth.
Active throughout the UK, ORE Catapult has operations in Glasgow, Blyth, Levenmouth, Aberdeen, the Humber, the East of England, the South West and Wales and operates a collaborative research partnership in China.
ABOUT EQUINOR IN THE NORTH EAST
Equinor has been operating in the UK for over 35 years. Headquartered in Norway, the company employs 22,000 people globally, and over 650 in the UK. As a broad energy company, Equinor is committed to long term value creation in a low carbon future, and targeting carbon neutral operations globally by 2030.
With its partners SSE Renewables and Eni, Equinor is building the largest offshore wind farm in the world, Dogger Bank, off the North East coast of England. Equinor will lead the Operations phase of the wind farm and is working closely with the North East Offshore Wind Cluster Energi Coast and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult to advance offshore the offshore wind industry in the region. This includes supporting the Technology, Innovation & Green Growth for Offshore Renewables (TIGGOR) programme designed to boost supply chain growth and productivity.
Equinor is also a leader in both carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) and hydrogen, and is developing a number of projects in Europe, including in the Humber and Teesside regions of North East England. These include Net Zero Teesside, Zero Carbon Humber and the Northern Endurance projects.
About EDF Renewables
EDF Renewables UK and Ireland is a joint venture between two companies, EDF Energy (EDF’s UK business) and EDF Renewables Group (EDF’s global renewables business). EDF Renewables Group has more than 25 years’ worth of experience in delivering renewable energy projects in more than 20 countries around the world. EDF Renewables UK and Ireland has an operating portfolio of 36 wind farms and one of the UK’s largest battery storage units (together totalling almost 1GW) and we are providing some of the much needed new affordable, low carbon electricity across all technologies. We have an expanding renewables portfolio with almost 4GW of projects in planning and development across wind, battery and solar and we have 600MW currently under construction. We also have offices in Edinburgh, Durham, London and Dublin.
About the North of Tyne Combined Authority
The North of Tyne Combined Authority is a partnership of three local authorities: Newcastle, North Tyneside, and Northumberland and a directly-elected Metro Mayor.
The North of Tyne Combined Authority has set out an ambitious Energy, Green Growth, and Climate Change blueprint which:
- Brings forward tangible investments that create jobs and growth through actively decarbonising our economy.
- Unlocks the potential for accelerated growth in our clean energy sector – building on already world-class assets in offshore wind, subsea technology and the associated supply chain as part of a North East-wide sector strategy.
- Creates the conditions for radical innovation across North of Tyne industries and public services – supporting collaborative, market-led interventions that create new jobs and demonstrates bold ambition around carbon reduction.
- Grows our capacity as an area to build the skills base to support new jobs and transition to cleaner ways of working – through an ambitious green growth skills partnership that draws on the best innovation from other places.
The offshore wind sector provides a game-changing economic opportunity for the area and given the scale of opportunity, NTCA has agreed a headline investment of £25 million up to 2028 for the Offshore and Subsea Innovation & Infrastructure programme.
About Kinewell Energy
Kinewell Energy develops and commercialises innovative technologies that add significant scalable value and impact positively on social and environmental challenges. The UK-based worldwide company are leaders in offering state of the art AI-based infrastructure optimisation solutions that support our global transition to a net-zero society.
Kinewell Energy’s first software solution, Kinewell Layout Optimisation of Cable (KLOC), designs an economically optimised inter-array cable layout for an offshore windfarm. KLOC was Highly Commended by the IET Innovation Awards in 2016 and typically delivers savings c. 20% of cable system CAPEX over the project lifetime. The KLOC software can be licensed by clients to use in-house, or Kinewell Energy can work on behalf of clients in an advisory role. Full training and support is also offered.
Kinewell Energy is a successful and rapidly growing company, with our growth predominately based on the offshore wind market uptake of KLOC. The company has a successful history of delivering both inter-array optimisation consultancy and KLOC licensing to the European, Japanese, US and Chinese offshore wind markets.
