Offshore Wind Developers Win £2.3m Funding

Three offshore wind developers have won a share of a £2.3 million funding pot to develop new technologies that will make the offshore wind industry more cost-effective. The developers won the second round of the Offshore Wind Component Technologies Development and Demonstration scheme, a competition launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in May 2012.

The winning firms and their projects are:

·         JDR Cable Systems of Cambridgeshire, who will spend their £1.02 million on designing and building innovative high voltage alternative current (HVAC) cables.

·         High Voltage Partial Discharge (HVPD) Ltd, based in Manchester, won £545,500. This will beused to develop an integrated offshore high voltage network management system for use on offshore wind farms.

·         Teesside-based Principle Power was awarded £698,630 to develop the design and serial manufacturing process for its Windfloat floating wind turbine foundations. Floating foundations will greatly reduce turbine installation costs, and the innovative Windfloat design also enables wind farms to be built further out to sea where wind strengths are highest.

Energy Minister Greg Barker announced the winners, adding that the competition as a whole has the potential to reduce offshore wind generation costs by 25% by 2020 and 50% by 2050. He also announced that a £4 million fourth round will be added to the competition.

Wilding says: UK firms have the potential to lead the world in the offshore wind industry. It’s great to see the government recognising this and providing the necessary funds to enable the development of innovative and cost-effective technologies.’

Source: Energy & Environmental Management and Renews