Oil & gas expertise could find use in tidal and wave market

 
Opportunities for oil and gas supply chain companies to apply their expertise in the growing wave and tidal power market will be highlighted in a workshop set for Aberdeen.

The free-to-attend workshop is meant for companies with experience and know-how of the offshore sector looking to work with the developers from the wave and tidal industry.

The emerging sector of tidal and wave is already generating significant commercial opportunities, according to one of the organizers of the workshop Opportunity North East (ONE), with more than £450 million spent across the UK wave and tidal supply chain to date, and a forecast stating the industry will be worth up to £76 billion by 2050.

Trevor Garlick, Chair of ONE’s Oil & Gas Sector Board, said: “Anchoring the oil and gas supply chain in this region for the long term is a strategic priority for ONE and diversification into adjacent sectors will help to achieve this.

“The supply chain has developed over 40 years in the North Sea and has the knowledge, experience and products that can support the development of the wave and tidal power sector. There is an exciting opportunity here, especially for our SMEs, to engage with this emerging sector and to win new work through developing relationships at an early stage.”

The oil and gas supply chain diversification workshop, jointly organized by ONE and the Ocean Power Innovation Network (OPIN), will provide access to key speakers and companies from the wave and tidal industry, and focus on research and technology, commercial issues, project opportunities, and the available support for wave and tidal collaboration.

The event will be held on June 14, 2017, at Norwood Hall Hotel in Aberdeen, Scotland.

OPIN is a joint initiative of the state agencies and key interests in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland involved in ocean energy. It is a network devoted to collaboration, learning, innovation and personal interaction in ocean energy technology development.

ONE is the private sector led and funded economic development body for North East Scotland.

The workshop is supported by organizations including Scottish Enterprise, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Wave Energy Scotland, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, InvestNI, the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Subsea UK and the National Subsea Research Initiative.