The UK government is hoping to attract innovators from outside the wind energy sector to help the offshore wind energy industry to reduce costs.
It has launched two competitions worth a combined £10 million that aims to develop a range of new ideas to make offshore wind energy more cost-effective.
The competition is part of a wider programme aimed at boosting investment in and reducing the costs of offshore wind energy, which is set to play a key role in reducing the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. It follows two earlier rounds of investment by the government in its offshore wind innovation scheme.
“I would encourage companies who haven’t yet taken advantage of this funding to get on board,” said Energy and Climate Change minister Greg Barker.
“We’d particularly welcome ideas from companies in parallel sectors – such as oil and gas, aerospace and manufacturing – who may wish to expand into the offshore wind sector,” added Iain Gray, CEO of the UK’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB).
The government is expecting to fund between five and ten projects with a total of £7 million under this third round of funding. It has also announced that a further £3 million is available for the development of technical feasibility studies in the offshore wind innovation arena. In a statement the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said that “applications are encouraged from a range of sectors including those such as aerospace and oil and gas where the adaptation of existing technologies for the offshore wind sector could help cut costs in the future”.
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