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The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult has called on Britain’s “world-leading” oil and gas sector to take advantage of the “global renewables revolution”, describing it as a “unmissable opportunity”.
With the industry coming to terms with a lower oil price and rising production costs, it has urged companies to take a leading role in the booming offshore renewables market, which is set to spend £210 billion globally over the coming decade.
The research body has set a series of ‘innovation challenges’ for the sector to overcome covering six broad themes: blades, electrical infrastructure, foundations, operations and maintenance, powertrain innovation and wave and tidal. They include improving maintenance techniques, finding better foundation fixings and identifying cost-effective cable surveying and ice-reduction coatings.
ORE Catapult commercialisation manager Andrew Tipping said: “Aberdeen, and the UK as a whole, have extensive experience in oil and gas, and the skills base, both in exploration and drilling, could be invaluable to the growth and development of offshore renewables. The value of this should not be underestimated, particularly at a time when the oil and gas sector continues to contend with lower oil prices and a need to reduce operating costs.
“Diversifying into renewables provides greater resilience for companies at the same time as providing an opportunity to take an early lead in what will be a huge global industry… It’s an unmissable opportunity.”
He continued: “Many of the challenges we’re presenting today are not unique to offshore renewables. Similar issues will be faced by oil and gas companies and related subsea sectors.
“We’ve teamed up with [the National Subsea Research Institute] to highlight these opportunities and make sure that companies grasp them as quickly as possible and steal a march on our global competitors.”
Among the companies which have already made a pivot towards renewables is offshore engineering firm W3G Marine. “[We] are developing a drone deployed inspection tool for offshore wind turbine blade damage, and have been working with ORE Catapult during the design stage of the project,” said company director John Giles. “The catapult has been an invaluable help, and the process has opened up opportunities for us to diversify our product offering and explore new markets.”
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