Research grants issued for West of Orkney offshore wind project

The West of Orkney Windfarm consortium has awarded funding for three R&D projects via EMEC’s Offshore Wind R&I Programme.

Corio Generation, TotalEnergies and RIDG are jointly developing the 2-GW project 30 km offshore the west coast of Orkney, northern Scotland, and 25 km from the north Sutherland coast on the mainland. They are targeting first power by 2030.

The £1-million ($1.23-million) R&I scheme is designed to support innovations that could lead to faster, lower cost and reduced-risk offshore wind power development.

Twenty-nine companies responded to the original innovation call, whittled down to eight under stage two and then to three.

Those approved for funding are:

• TRIOS Renewables: embedding spatial metocean intelligence into offshore wind opex models. The aim is to help de-risk/improve the likely financial performance of projects prior to FID.
• Seaview Sensing: a high-frequency radar system that could improve wave measurement accuracy in high seas and provide wind mapping to deliver round-the-clock surface current, wave and wind data. This would provide real-time metocean information and assist forecasting and identification of weather windows, reducing the weather risk to personnel, cargo and vessels.
• Next Ocean: Wave Predictor tool predicts waves and ship motions in real time for the next few minutes. The resulting data on individual waves and motion crests allows crews to determine quieter periods for executing critical offshore operations.

All three projects should be completed later in the year.

Further innovation calls will address different challenge areas identified by the consortium and others concerning installation logistics, operations and maintenance, sustainable solutions, offshore robotics, and digital twins.

The next call, due to open in February, will invite suggestions for improved weather forecasting and turbine access in rough seas.