Supergen ORE Hub Kicks Off 2nd Round of Flexible Funding

The Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub has launched its tidal energyfassasafsafto advance research into the opportunities and challenges of offshore wind, wave and tidal energy.

This second round of Flexible Funding will award a total of up to £1.2 million to researchers at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Research Council Institutes and Centres, and Independent Research Organisations (IROs) approved by UKRI, to seed areas that complement existing research, fill gaps or add cross cutting activities to explore the transfer of research findings between sectors within ORE.

In this round of funding, the Supergen ORE Hub has additional in-kind contributions from the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult.

The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult is supporting the funding call by offering in-kind research resource from one or more of its network of Research Hubs. This will involve a collaboration with some of the winning projects and the provision of Catapult support and additional PhD/PDRA Research Hub resource for up to 12 months.

Paul McKeever, Head of Electrical Research for ORE Catapult and Chair of the Supergen ORE Hub Industry Advisory Board, said:

“The Catapult’s network of Research Hubs, covering wind turbine blades, electrical infrastructure and powertrains, works to align industry-driven innovation priorities with applied academic research so that we can drive new products and services into the sector, improving productivity and efficiency and reducing energy costs.

“Aligning our relevant research priorities with Supergen ORE’s Flexible Funding calls is a win-win – encouraging vital collaboration between industry and academia to solve many of the technology challenges facing the offshore renewable energy sector today.”

Professor Deborah Greaves OBE, Head of the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics at the University of Plymouth, and Director of the Supergen ORE Hub, said:

“The UK is at the forefront of development, adoptions and export of offshore renewable technologies, and this second round of flexible funding will allow UK-based researchers to deliver fundamental and applied research to advance the sector. Additional industrial support from ORE Catapult strengthens academic-industry collaboration in the ORE sector.”

In 2019 the Supergen ORE Hub awarded almost £1 million to ten projects in its first round of Flexible Funding. Funded projects included investigations into the recycling process of wind turbine blades, the development of underwater robotic fish for device inspection, and using satellite data for enabling cost reduction of marine renewables.

Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the Flexible Funding are open now, with a closing date on 3 April 2020.