UK Awards Three Grants to Accelerate Offshore Wind Innovation

Three innovative UK businesses are the latest companies to secure funding from a major Government scheme to support the development of next generation offshore wind technology.

NGenTec Ltd, OSBIT Power Ltd and OGN North Sea Ltd will each receive grants under DECC and the Technology Strategy Board’s Offshore Wind Component Technologies Innovation scheme. Launched last November, the scheme, which is worth around £5m, aims to help innovators with novel ideas to reduce the cost of offshore wind energy.

 NGenTec, based in Edinburgh, has been awarded £782,991 to help develop its novel permanent magnet generator technology for large offshore wind turbines. This technology should simplify the manufacture and assembly process for wind turbine generators, increase their reliability and contribute to reductions in the cost of offshore wind energy.

Osbit Power, based in Riding Mill, Northumberland has been awarded £615,000 to help develop its MaXccess-HBS offshore wind turbine access system. This innovative approach will allow people to safely access offshore wind turbines in more difficult sea conditions, reducing the cost and increasing the safety of offshore wind. MaXccess-HBS is a development of OP’s existing offshore access technology, and will enable access from larger dynamically positioned vessels which are expected to be used for future offshore wind farms.

OGN North Sea, based in Tyne and Wear and a part of Offshore Group Newcastle, has been awarded £640,250 to build a prototype steel jacketed foundation for large offshore wind turbines to be installed at water depths in excess of 30m, developed by its sister company Aquind Limited. This project will also develop construction methods for these foundations to increase manufacturing throughput and installation rates and to reduce the cost of future offshore wind energy.

Confirmation of these grants follows the award in February 2012 of a £1.2m grant from the same scheme to David Brown Gear Systems Ltd – and further winners will be announced shortly. All the winning projects are expected to deliver products which could secure significant cost savings in the production of offshore wind energy in the future.

A second round of Offshore Wind Component Technologies funding will be launched in early May 2012. This second round, which will have a budget of around £5m, will call for further proposals which can reduce the cost of offshore wind energy through innovation in offshore wind component technology, manufacture and installation. DECC will host an event for anyone interested in applying to this second call on Tuesday, 22 May.

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Offshore WIND staff, April 12, 2012; Image: NGenTec