ORE Catapult looks to academia for offshore renewables link-up

The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult is seeking to partner with a UK-based university to accelerate electrical infrastructure research and development activities related to offshore renewable technologies.

The activities will combine academic and industry skills and resources to better respond to industry’s needs as part of the research hub being set up to explore electrical infrastructures, according to ORE Catapult.

The new research hub will attract a five-year investment of around £700,000 from ORE Catapult, the UK’s flagship technology innovation and research center for advancing wind, wave and tidal energy said.

The key research topics and themes will be related to component reliability and availability, system and sub-system optimization, and smart energy systems of the future – including energy storage solutions.

The aim of the hub is to build a stronger complementary offering of academic research, innovation, demonstration and representative testing for the offshore renewables sector, ORE Catapult said.

“How we convert, transmit and store energy from our offshore renewable assets in an effective and reliable manner is one of the biggest challenges that lie ahead.

“We know from our first research Hub launched this year that by pooling existing academic and industry skills and resources, we will be better positioned to respond to this challenge, driving forward key research and helping to leverage the vital public and private finance that will underpin the activity,” said Paul McKeever, ORE Catapult’s Head of Strategic Research.

The deadline for application submissions has been set for February 20, 2018.

The initiative follows the establishment of the Wind Blade Research Hub, ORE Catapult set up in June 2017 in partnership with the University of Bristol.