OGV Renewables - Issue 4 - June 2023

DAN MCGRAIL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, RENEWABLEUK

The big news in offshore wind for June is always the Global Offshore Wind (GOW) Conference and Exhibition – which is the largest event of its kind in the UK. We are looking forward to welcoming thousands of attendees over the two days, with organisations and individuals from more than 50 different countries coming together. Delegates will have access to hours of content delivered by over 200 speakers who are all experts in their relevant fields. There will be lively debates, detailed discussions and plenty of opportunities to connect with the global offshore wind community. Indeed, the sharing of insights from projects around the world is likely to be a key theme, as is how we build an energy secure future.

The success of this event every year confirms a stable appetite among the sector for continued and accelerated growth. Only through collaboration, innovation and investment can we drive the industry forwards and realise even the most ambitious of targets.

Among the topics of discussion during GOW23 will likely be the Government’s decision to amend Ofgem’s mandate and give it specific duties to deliver net zero. This is something that we at RenewableUK have been pushing for some time and are delighted to see the change being made. Some offshore wind projects have waited more than 10 years to be connected to the grid. It is essential that this is avoided moving forward in order to unlock massive potential – an estimated £15 billion of investment at least – and facilitate rapid growth in capacity of offshore wind across the UK.

With so much going on in the sector right now, it has never been more important to keep your finger on the pulse and really understand how your organisation or project sits in the wider industry. The innovative EnergyPulse resource is a fantastic tool that offers real-time industry data in an easyto-use platform, which can be utilised to ensure informed company decisions. Find out more by contacting the team at renewableuk.com/page/EnergyPulse.

You can find out more about this and many other pertinent topics of interest at GOW23. Be sure to download the RenewableUK event app to plan your visit and really make the most of your time in London!

A Sea Change

Scotland has the power and potential to thrive as Europe’s Energy capital, but it must act now to seize the opportunity and capitalise on a new wave: floating offshore wind.

Offshore wind has come a long way since the first windfarm was commissioned off the coast of Denmark in the early 1990s. Progress back then was slow, with the UK's first fixed demonstration offshore windfarm being installed in December 2000. Early-stage wind turbines, with monopile foundations and placed less than 2km from shore, are now a far cry from the large-scale fixed offshore windfarms we see operating across the UK coastline today.

Technology continues to move on significantly, supported by a fiscal and political will to develop offshore wind industries globally and in turn, to drive energy security and net zero policy ambitions. Aberdeen, Scotland, has for decades been termed the Energy Capital of Europe, with the region’s established experience in oil and gas exploration, however now - Aberdeen wears a new crown, as the global leader in the development of floating offshore wind.

Few regions compare globally, with the skills, expertise and infrastructure that the North East of Scotland offers this new and exciting industry and a just transition in skills and labour is required to protect that. The deployment of more offshore wind developments will create thousands of jobs, as well as generating opportunities across the supply chain and decreasing costs for future projects. The time to act however, is now.

Flotation Energy’s recent joint venture partnership with Vårgrønn saw the duo offered exclusivity by Crown Estate Scotland to develop a total of up to 1.9 GW of floating offshore wind capacity across two projects, Green Volt and Cenos.

With vast wind resources and well understood sea conditions, coupled with proven offshore engineering and technologies, Scotland is uniquely placed to accelerate floating offshore wind developments on a global platform. It should be noted, some of the first test and demonstrator windfarms globally were launched in Aberdeenshire. Furthermore, at Kincardine, 15km off the coast of Aberdeen, the world’s first commercial floating windfarm has been generating power since 2021.

The founders of Kincardine, Allan MacAskill and Nicol Stephen created Flotation Energy in 2018 with the ambition to advance the immense opportunities that floating offshore wind can offer globally. In November 2022, they partnered with TEPCO Renewable Power – enabling the team to both move forward quickly with existing projects and to kick start new opportunities around the world. Today, the company has a project pipeline spanning 13GW of developments in the UK and internationally.  With vast experience and knowledge in floating and fixed developments, Flotation Energy is already a leading expert in offshore wind.

Flotation Energy’s recent joint venture partnership with Vårgrønn saw the duo offered exclusivity by Crown Estate Scotland to develop a total of up to 1.9 GW of floating offshore wind capacity across two projects, Green Volt and Cenos

The awards, made under Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round, are for offshore wind projects that provide lowcarbon electricity to oil and gas platforms. By securing area exclusivity in the INTOG round, the Green Volt and Cenos projects will make a significant contribution to Scotland’s 2045 Net Zero target, and The North Sea Transition Deal’s goal to halve offshore emissions by 2030. INTOG also presents a huge opportunity for decades to come, as Scottish and UK supply chains develop to meet longer-term, strategic floating offshore wind developments.

Green Volt and Cenos have been in the planning for many years. The two projects have the potential to generate enough green power to electrify most of the oil and gas platforms in the Outer Moray Firth area and will also deliver renewable electricity back to the grid for consumers across the UK.

Offering affordable and reliable electrification, Green Volt and Cenos will enable oil and gas operators to play a critical role in the energy transition from 2027. The projects will dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas platforms, saving over three million tonnes of CO2 each year. Pioneering the first large-scale decarbonisation and electrification of offshore platforms, Green Volt will become a project that defines and sets standards for how the industry progresses the next generation of floating developments, helping Scotland pivot quickly into, and through, the energy transition.

Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn’s first mover status in this area places them in a unique position to deliver. The Cenos project is currently working through its remaining

offshore surveys, whilst Green Volt has completed these and already has obtained UK grid connection agreement to enable timely electrification of oil and gas assets. There is a time critical factor for decarbonisation of oil and gas, with ambitious timescales to meet, as well as providing a landmark opportunity for Scotland to lead in the global deployment of floating offshore wind.

However large the opportunity for Scotland is, there are very real challenges and barriers to success.  Most importantly, how we create a just transition for those working in the traditional energy industries that have the technical and commercial skills needed to deliver these projects at pace? The reskilling and upskilling of people from oil and gas, as well as attracting a new generation of trailblazers, to write the next chapter in our global Energy industry will be key.

The scale of the prize for Scotland in floating offshore wind is potentially huge; it cannot however be complacent. Scotland is the powerhouse of offshore wind and to continue to hold this title it must be ready to scale up and be prepared for a new wave of CAPEX investment. By being agile and decisively supporting the projects that are deliverable, Scotland can build solid foundations for this new industry, to then scale it and export it globally.

FIBRE OPTIC TRAINING for

the onshore, offshore and renewables markets

RCP - Instrumentation and Control System specialists have made significant investment in fibre optic equipment such as fusion splicing machines, mechanical splicing kits, fibre optic ovens, optical power meters, optical microscopes and polishing equipment to terminate and test fibre optic cables, connectors junction boxes and patch panels to a very high standard.

In 2021 a dedicated fibre optic workshop was set up at our Blackburn facility to provide fibre optic training to the onshore, offshore and renewables markets.

Fibre Optic Training includes

Fusion Splicing of single mode and multimode cables using Fujikura fusion splicers, construction of bespoke fibre optic cables and connector sets, construction of circular plug/socket connectors for hazardous area use. ATEX/IECEx zone 1 connectors, cables made up with pre-potted glands and tails to facilitate ease of fitment to drilling platforms, rigs offshore and renewable assets.

Mechanical splicing – Corning and Huber + Suhner connectors, ST, SC and LC, insertion loss and cable loss measurements, testing connectors and cables for insertion loss and return loss. OTDR testing using Fujikura machines.

The format of the course starts with the theory of Fibre Optics. Safety when using Fibre Optics, FO cable selection and connector types. Stripping fibre optic cables and preparation including the use of fan out kits, the use of fibre breakout boxes and fibre optic plug socket connectors and an understanding of loss budgets for fibre optics.

Delegates will learn how to manually splice using a Corning Kit with ST, SC and LC connectors. They will learn how to measure insertion loss of splices, connectors and cables. The delegate will use a fibre optic power meter. There will also be an introduction to fusion splicing.

The training course consists of both theoretical and practical elements with approximately 75% of the course being practical exercises where the delegates get to practice the skills taught.

By the end of the course each delegate will be able to identify different types of fibre cable for use on/offshore, select the correct type of cable and connector for the application in hand, prepare and manually splice a connector onto a fibre optic core(mechanical splice), test the integrity of the connector and measure the insertion loss of the cable or cable system.

The delegates will be able to fault find and repair fibre optic cables and connectors, prepare and splice a connector onto a fibre optic core known as fusion splicing.

The course material can be created bespoke to a company’s specific requirements. The course runs over 2 days.

A certificate of competence will be issued to the delegate's employing company on successful completion of the course.

RCP provide the following site services on or offshore

Fusion Splicing of single mode and multimode cables – Fujikura fusion splicers, Construction of bespoke fibre optic cables and connector sets, Mechanical splicing –Corning and Huber + Suhner connectors, ST, SC and LC. Construction of bespoke fibre optic cables and connector sets – Insertion loss and cable loss measurement, testing connectors and cables for insertion loss and return loss.

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Design

Ben Mckay Jen McAdam

Journalist

Tsvetana Paraskova

CONTRIBUTORS

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Cerulean Winds set out ambitions for North Sea Renewables Grid

Partnering with Frontier Power and uniting a dedicated consortium of world leading industrial partners, the development will be one of the country’s largest-scale infrastructure projects designed to deliver on the energy sector emissions reduction targets.

Founders, Dan Jackson and Mark Dixon have substantial expertise in the development and delivery of major offshore and deepwater energy projects and have founded and developed businesses in the global energy arena over 20-plus years.

The NSRG will see Cerulean develop three 333 square kilometre sites of hundreds of floating wind turbines, producing multiple gigawatts (GW) of electricity, after being offered the lion’s share of seabed leases in the recent Crown Estate Scotland INTOG leasing round.

Dan Jackson sheds further light on the development and its implications for the sector, economy and supply chain.

What is the North Sea Renewables Grid?

The North Sea Renewables Grid is a largescale offshore renewable power grid that will have the ability to provide clean power from floating wind to oil and gas platforms anywhere in the UK Continental Shelf.

It will link hundreds of offshore turbines with high-voltage cables to transmit green energy to oil and gas production facilities in the North Sea. We plan to develop the grid in phases, with phase one focused on providing a clean power source for the North Sea’s oil and gas industry. Later phases will help to further commercially scale up renewable power for homes and businesses across the UK and beyond.

The scale and location of our three floating wind sites in the Central North Sea enables a basin-wide transmission approach, which will allow oil and gas operators a flexible option for removing millions of tonnes of production emissions by trading gas and diesel generation for a flexible, cost effective and cleaner alternative.

Each windfarm site is located within 100km of the others and will be connected together to form the offshore ring main around the Central North Sea. A High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) transmission will provide availability and redundancy for maximising generation uptime. The scale allows for offtake to other parts of the North Sea through a new High Voltage Direct Current (HDVC) network.

Why is basin-wide decarbonisation important?

The sector has signed up to the North Sea Transition Deal (NSTD) targets, but the challenge now is decarbonising production at scale whilst continuing to prioritise UK energy security.

The targets set by the NSTD demand urgent action. Operators have made it clear they are ready to act now to achieve these goals but cannot do so without a dependable and costeffective solution in place.

We recognise that to achieve meaningful reductions at the pace required, a basin-wide solution is necessary. By taking this integrated approach, we are offering organisations a reliable and flexible power source which they can plug into once they have completed any necessary brownfield works and are ready to make the switch to renewable power.

What is the benefit to oil and gas operators?

Currently, there are limited options for operators to reduce their production emissions and scale is required to hit the 50% reduction by 2030 target set out in the NSTD. Our goal is to provide them with a risk-free solution that will allow them to switch to renewable power as soon as they are ready through standardised Power Purchase Agreements.

Green infrastructure developer Cerulean Winds recently unveiled plans to develop the North Sea Renewable Grid (NSRG), a £20 billion integrated green power and transmission system, powered by floating wind, that oil and gas platforms will plug into for clean power.

Having hundreds of turbines in place over three locations provides the baseline required to build out the grid with a level of consistency that is demanded by the oil and gas industry, this provides redundancy in supply. The basin-wide scale allows us to be reactive, while maintaining lower pricing and supply robustness. For the oil and gas companies, the diversity of offtake through the HDVC network provides robustness to the scheme and further lowers their offtake costs through simple economies of scale. The intent is to minimise the ‘infill’ power from the grid when the wind is not blowing, and the scale of the wind farms provides this.

What delivery partners does Cerulean have on board?

Our delivery consortium brings together a suite of tier-one industrial partners to develop, supply and install the NSRG. This includes NOV, Siemens Gamesa, Siemens Energy, DEME and Worley. Each partner brings a unique skill set to the project that will enable us to fast-track phase one of building out the grid. Never before in the UK has such a consortium been put in place at the early development stage, however this is necessary to provide the confidence the scheme can be delivered on schedule and to budget.

Each of our partners has experience delivering large-scale projects for the offshore oil and gas industry in the North Sea. Their understanding of the region and supply chain are invaluable in allowing us to deliver such an ambitious project at pace.

Why did Cerulean partner with Frontier Power?

Frontier Power was an easy first choice to partner with for this project. Their founders are both ex-National Grid senior executives and they have an impressive track record of delivering large transactions in the power sector, with over £1.5billion of offshore transmission assets under management. They have already delivered an interconnector between the UK and Germany and are developing a UK to Netherlands HVDC link.

The wealth of knowledge and experience they have accumulated assures us that they have the capabilities and prowess to facilitate power transmission on a mammoth scale.

Identifying and achieving regulatory and statutory changes, along with an in-depth insight into the UK grid access process from the team’s time working with the National Grid, provides us with great insight into how to seamlessly rollout grid access for clients across the North Sea. The strength of an integrated offshore transmission and floating wind development team is the key to success.

What timeline is Cerulean working to?

Our target is to have electrons flowing to meet the NSTD milestones for 2027 and 2030, which is crucial for both the UK and Scottish governments to demonstrate they are delivering on their climate change ambitions Further, we are aiming to build out before ScotWind developments start. This will allow the supply chain to respond, creating crucial partnering opportunities for the ports and getting the market ready to deliver floating wind at scale.

Early oil and gas electrification supports the country’s energy security, net zero action and delivers huge benefits to the supply chain and economy. We have fast-tracked phase one of the NSRG to prioritise this, to give the oil and gas operators access to green energy as quickly as we can, with flexibility and reliability. Work with end users has begun in earnest so that we can aim for the first power availability in 2027. Further phases will focus on exporting green power to the grids in UK and Europe.

What is the opportunity for Scotland and its supply chain?

It’s all about scale. The vast amounts of infrastructure required will provide a pipeline of work over many years and provide the opportunity for ports and yards to invest now in expansions ahead of ScotWind, getting the market ready to deliver.

Scotland is one of the most investable countries in the world for large-scale infrastructure in green energy because of its supply chain, which has built up an enviable legacy of expertise from responding to oil and gas projects over half a century.

By creating over 10,000 jobs, this type of ambitious renewable project will help scale Scotland’s green economy. It will make a material impact on the country’s emissions, removing millions of tonnes of CO2 a year to support a just transition. In total, the three windfarms alone will contribute over £12 billion GVA to the UK’s economy.

What’s next?

We will continue our engagement with the supply chain on the packages of work including the tri-floater and with the oil and gas operators on the impact we can make to their emissions reduction ambitions. We want to partner and help make this a smooth transition. We appreciate that the timescales are challenging for the operators and will bring our experience and flexibility to streamline this as much as possible.

Further down the line the direct export route to Europe is a huge opportunity for Scotland to be a globally leading exporter of clean energy, which will provide further economic value. Wind is a reliable source of energy in Scotland, particularly in the deeper offshore waters, so this is a real chance to set the North Sea up for providing the next half a century and beyond of secure energy production. 

Dan Jackson

By Tsvetana Paraskova

UK REVIEW

UK BOOSTS EFFORTS TO DRIVE RENEWABLES INVESTMENT

Record-high wind and solar generation raised the share of renewable electricity in the UK last year, and the UK and Scottish governments are looking to further boost renewables and drive investment in green energy projects including carbon capture and storage (CCS) and green hydrogen.

The UK government also explores a major reform to the flagship renewables scheme to improve energy security and drive investment, while Ofgem is looking to reform local energy systems with the aim to establish a more decentralised, decarbonised, and dynamic energy system in Great Britain.

Record Renewable Power Generation

Production from renewable technologies in 2022 broadly matched the previous record high of 2020 and renewables share of electricity generation increased to 41.4% from 39.6% in 2021, largely due to wind and solar generation reaching new record highs, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said in its latest statistical release, Energy Trends, at the end of March 2023.

Wind generation hit a record high share of 24.6% of generation last year. Generation from fossil fuels fell slightly, down to a share of 40.8%, but generation from gas remained the principal form of UK generation at 38.4%, according to the government data.

Records in renewable generation were achieved in 2022 for both onshore and offshore wind, as well as solar PV. Where the previous 2020 record for renewable generation was driven by favourable weather conditions, the 2022 record was driven primarily by new capacity, especially in offshore wind, the report said.

wind speeds and sun hours were higher than in 2021.

Most notable was the spike in new capacity installation in the first quarter of 2022 when 1.5 GW was installed in offshore wind alone. New offshore wind continued to come on line in the second and third quarters before dropping off in the fourth quarter. For the year as a whole, 2.7 GW in offshore wind was installed, including key sites at Moray East (1.0 GW) and Seagreen (0.3 GW) in Scotland, as well as Hornsea Two in England (1.4 GW), according to the Energy Trends report

Plan To Bolster Clean Energy Industries

The UK outlined at the end of March steps to strengthen Britain’s long-term energy security and independence to help deliver a clean, prosperous future for the country. The plan is aimed at boosting the UK’s energy security and independence and reducing household bills for the long term while maintaining a world-leading position in achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

“Transforming our energy system is no longer just about tackling climate change, it is also a matter of national security. To protect ourselves from future price spikes, we need to accelerate the move to cleaner, cheaper, homegrown energy.”

The measures include a commitment to carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) with £20 billion funding. The first projects will be announced to progress to the next stage of the negotiations to roll out the first carbon capture clusters in the industrial heartlands. The round for areas to apply for two additional future clusters has also been launched and there will be an opportunity for further projects to be added to the first two clusters.

The government also looks to kick-start investment into the UK’s emerging floating offshore wind industry by launching a £160 million fund to support port infrastructure projects, securing the UK’s leadership in this new technology.

A £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund will back the first tranche of new green hydrogen production projects, while the UK will also open the fifth round of the UK’s scheme to incentivise investment in renewable electricity, backed by a budget of £205 million.

The government will also launch a new competition to select the best small modular reactor technologies for development by the autumn of 2023.

The UK pledged to reform the planning process to enable the building of more energy infrastructure, including solar power and offshore wind projects, more quickly. Investments in EV charging points and infrastructure, and heat pumps will also be supported by government funding.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said, “Transforming our energy system is no longer just about tackling climate change, it is also a matter of national security. To protect ourselves from future price spikes, we need to accelerate the move to cleaner, cheaper, home-grown energy.”

Accelerating Offshore Wind Power Deployment

The UK’s Offshore Wind Champion, Tim Pick, issued in April an independent report in which he made recommendations to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind farms in the UK.

The key recommendation in the report is that the UK needs to urgently upgrade the national grid for a world of high renewables penetration and widespread electrification of homes and businesses.

Compared to 2021, renewables generation was 10.4% higher; although weather conditions weren’t as favourable as in 2020,

The UK Government has set an ambition for 10 gigawatts (GW) of hydrogen production by 2030 – which could generate enough clean electricity to power all of London for a year.

“Grid connections are increasingly becoming the rate-limiting factor for our Offshore Wind deployment going forward,” Pick said in the report.

One particular area on which the government and the Devolved Administrations should

focus their attention is in seizing Britain’s first-mover advantage in the development of the new floating offshore wind (FLOW) industry, he noted.

To lead in this industry, the UK will need a strategy to support innovation, R&D, and industrialisation efforts as the technology transitions from bespoke demonstration projects to serial production and commercial scale deployment. Another key element of a floating offshore wind strategy should be catalysing investment in the large-scale world-class port infrastructure which will be vital to delivering projects and securing the largest possible share of supply chain jobs, growth, and know-how, the Offshore Wind Champion said.

“With bold, determined leadership we have a fantastic opportunity to lead the world in this technology, in the same way that Aberdeen has led the world in subsea Oil & Gas,” he noted.

In further developing its offshore wind industry, the UK needs to maintain focus on the competitiveness of the UK’s offer to Offshore Wind investors, while also recognising that the costs of the electricity system are ultimately borne by consumers, Pick said.

Energy Reforms

In mid-April, the UK government announced plans to explore a major reform to the government’s flagship renewables scheme, the Contracts for Difference (CfD). The reform could help drive further investment in renewable energy deployment and improve energy security.

Currently, CfD are awarded based on the bid price submitted by renewable energy generating stations, with the aim to increase deployment and ensure good value to electricity consumers and, over time, drive down costs.

The government is now seeking evidence and views about reviewing applications not just on their ability to deliver low-cost renewable energy deployment, but also based on how much a renewable energy project contributes to the wider health of the renewable energy industry.

“These reforms could see applicants considering overall costs alongside other ‘non price factors’ - such as supply chain sustainability, addressing skills gaps, innovation and enabling system and grid flexibility and operability - when submitting their bids, which could help drive investment in the sector, grow the economy and boost the country’s energy security,” the government said.

Ofgem, the electricity market regulator, launched in March a consultation on the next steps in establishing a more decentralised, decarbonised, and dynamic energy system in Great Britain.

Akshay Kaul, Interim Director of Infrastructure and Security of Supply, said, “We need a radical rethink of the energy system, markets and grid to establish a net zero power system by 2035 and net zero economy by 2050. The role of local communities will be critical. That’s why we’re suggesting ways to make Britain’s energy systems and markets participatory and transparent.”

Referring to the future of distributed flexibility, Kaul noted, “We are setting out plans for how we can standardise and open markets – specifically by creating an ambitious vision for distributed flexibility involving a common ‘digital energy infrastructure’ which will allow more communities, businesses and organisations to buy and sell surplus renewable electricity and services when and where they need it.”

Jeremy Hunt

Akshay Kaul

Tim Pick

By Tsvetana Paraskova

EUROPEAN REVIEW

EUROPE LOOKS TO ACCELERATE GREEN ENERGY ROLLOUT

The European Union is doubling down on renewables and is looking to speed up the installation of solar and wind power capacity and reform the electricity market design to protect consumers from volatile fossil fuel prices.

The EU is also looking to boost its competitiveness in clean technology manufacturing, and increased its targets for renewables share in the energy mix with recent legislation and proposed regulations.

Electricity Market Reform

The European Commission proposed in the middle of March a reform of the EU’s electricity market design to speed up renewables rollout and the phase-out of gas. The proposed legislation is also aimed at making consumer bills less dependent on volatile oil and natural gas prices and better protecting EU consumers from future price spikes and potential market manipulation. Finally, the Commission aims to make the EU’s industry clean and more competitive with the proposed reform.

The EU Council and the European Parliament will now have to discuss the proposal for a market reform and vote on a final new electricity market design later this year.

The legislation, as proposed by the European Commission, would introduce measures that incentivise longer-term contracts with non-fossil power production and bring more clean flexible solutions into the system to compete with gas, such as demand response and storage.

“This will decrease the impact of fossil fuels on the consumer electricity bills, as well as ensure that the lower cost of renewables gets reflected in there,” the Commission said.

The reform is also expected to promote open and fair competition in the European wholesale energy markets by enhancing market transparency and integrity.

Commenting on the Commission’s proposed reform, Naomi Chevillard, Head of Regulatory Affairs at SolarPower Europe, said,

“Homes and businesses will be able to access PPAs more easily. Businesses are set to benefit from new government de-risking schemes that backup their ability to sign these long-term energy supply contracts.”

The proposal “considers the role of electricity grids in facilitating access to green, lowcost, energy. Developers planning new solar projects will have more information on where, when, and how they can connect their solar to the grid,” Chevillard noted.

The WindEurope association said, “The Council and Parliament must now stick to this balanced proposal and end the current investment uncertainty caused by uncoordinated national market interventions.”

“The market design has been extremely efficient in matching supply and demand –and has given consumers years of affordable electricity prices,” said WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson.

“It’s good the Commission proposal builds on the strengths of the existing market design. What’s needed is an evolution not radical changes.”

Net-Zero Industry Act

The European Commission has also proposed the so-called Net-Zero Industry Act, aimed at scaling up the manufacturing of clean technologies in the bloc and making sure the EU is well-equipped for the clean energy transition.

The Act will improve conditions for investment in net-zero technologies by enhancing information, reducing the administrative burden to set up projects, and simplifying permit-granting processes. Under the Act, carbon dioxide capture targets are increased, to remove a major barrier to developing CO2 capture and storage as an economically viable climate solution, in particular for hard to abate energy-intensive sectors.

The Commission also presented ideas on the design and functions of the European Hydrogen Bank, an initiative to support the uptake of green hydrogen in the EU.

“This sends a clear signal that Europe is the place for hydrogen production,” the Commission said.

The first pilot auctions on renewable hydrogen production will be launched under the Innovation Fund in the autumn of 2023. Selected projects will be awarded a subsidy in the form of a fixed premium per kg of hydrogen produced for a maximum of 10 years of operation.

The Commission has also proposed a set of actions to ensure the EU’s access to a secure, diversified, affordable and sustainable supply of critical raw materials.

The Critical Raw Materials Act “will significantly improve the refining, processing and recycling of critical raw materials here in Europe. Raw materials are vital for manufacturing key technologies for our twin transition – like wind power generation, hydrogen storage or batteries,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

“And we're strengthening our cooperation with reliable trading partners globally to reduce the EU's current dependencies on just one or a few countries.”

EU Raises Renewables Targets

At the end of March, the European Parliament and the Council reached a provisional political agreement to raise the EU’s binding renewable target for 2030 to a minimum of 42.5%, up from the current 32% target and almost doubling the existing share of renewable energy in the EU. Negotiators also agreed that the EU would aim to reach an indicative target of 45% of renewables by 2030.

The provisional agreement includes accelerated permitting procedures for renewable energy projects, with the purpose to fast-track the deployment of renewables as part of the EU’s REPowerEU plan to become independent from Russian fossil fuels, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The agreement reaffirms the EU's determination to gain its energy independence through a faster deployment

of home-grown renewable energy, and to meet the EU's 55% greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2030,” the European Commission said, welcoming the deal

“A massive scaling-up and speeding-up of renewable energy across power generation, industry, buildings and transport will reduce energy prices over time and decrease the EU's dependence on imported fossil fuels,” the Commission added.

Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, said, commenting on the higher renewables target, “This sends a clear message to all stakeholders to prepare for system change. That means scaling investment, electricity grids, and our workforce, and of course, 45% is a floor, not a ceiling. We'll be working to deliver as much renewable energy by 2030 as possible,” Hemetsberger added.

Increased Cross-Border Cooperation

Several European countries have recently signed new agreements to deepen crossborder cooperation on clean energy and climate goals.

Norway and the EU established in April a Green Alliance to strengthen their joint climate action, environmental protection efforts, and cooperation in clean energy and the industrial transition.

“Several areas have been specifically mentioned, including carbon capture and storage, offshore wind power, hydrogen, critical raw materials, batteries and green shipping. These are areas where Norway can play a leading role,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said.

Norway and the EU announced the Green Alliance just before the summit on offshore wind of the leaders of countries of the North Sea. Nine Heads of State and Government and the President of the EU Commission met in Ostend, Belgium, at the end of April and agreed new commitments on the build-out of offshore wind in the North Sea.

The leaders set ambitious combined targets for offshore wind of about 120 GW by 2030 in the North Sea, with the aim to more than double the total 2030-capacity of offshore wind to at least 300 GW by 2050.

“We will continue planning for multiple energy hubs and islands as well as hybrid cooperation, multipurpose projects and increased connectivity by carrying out, where appropriate, a screening of the potential for offshore wind, and hydrogen production, in our entire North Seas,” the leaders said in the final declaration.

wind energy manufacturing capacities. The signatories stress that an expansion of offshore wind in the North Sea in line with Europe’s net-zero targets must be made in Europe.

“Major new investments are needed in manufacturing capacity and key infrastructure such as grids and ports,” the industry says.

“The North Sea is set to become Europe green powerhouse, leading the way in deploying offshore renewables to decarbonise our economies and to increase our energy security.”

European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, said at the summit, “The North Sea is set to become Europe green powerhouse, leading the way in deploying offshore renewables to decarbonise our economies and to increase our energy security.”

In an Industry Declaration, more than 100 companies representing the whole value chain of offshore wind and renewable hydrogen in Europe welcomed the reinforced offshore wind ambitions at the North Sea Summit. The Industry Declaration outlined the urgent need to strengthen Europe’s

As part of the North Sea Summit, the UK and the Netherlands jointly announced plans for a first-of-its-kind electricity link to connect offshore wind between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The interconnection, ‘LionLink’, aims to support decarbonisation, market integration, and strengthen security of supply. Connecting offshore wind via the first cross-border direct current cable of this size would be an important next step towards an integrated offshore grid in the North Sea, the Dutch government said. LionLink is a multi-purpose interconnector, which is designed to link a Dutch offshore wind farm of 2 GW to both countries via sub-sea interconnectors.

Norway announced at the end of March its first competitions for offshore wind areas, with which the Norwegian government takes a big step towards its ambition of allocating areas for 30,000 MW offshore wind by 2040.

“We are looking forward to receiving many good applications from relevant developers, so that we can allocate the project areas later this year,” said Norway’s Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Aasland

"Stakeholders should prepare for system change. That means scaling investment, electricity grids, and our workforce, and of course, 45% is a floor, not a ceiling. We'll be working to deliver as much renewable energy by 2030 as possible"

Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe image: www.solarpowereurope.org

Energy projects and business intelligence in the energy sector

The EIC is the leading Trade Association providing dedicated services to help members understand, identify and pursue business opportunities globally.

It is renowned for excellence in the provision of services that unlock opportunities for its members, helping the supply chain to win business across the globe.

The EIC provides one of the most comprehensive sources of energy projects and business intelligence in the energy sector today. www.eicdatastream.the-eic.com

DENMARK

Offshore Wind Farm Thor RWE Renewables

$2.37bn

A 1GW offshore wind farm located 20km off Nissum Fjord west of Thorsminde, in the Danish North Sea. Several major preferred suppliers have been announced for wind turbines, foundations, export and inter-array cables, and onshore and offshore substations.

The EIC delivers high-value market intelligence through its online energy project database, and via a global network of staff to provide qualified regional insight. Along with practical assistance and facilitation services, the EIC’s access to information keeps members one step ahead of the competition in a demanding global marketplace.

RENEWABLE PROJECTS

Contractors include Fred. Olsen Windcarrier, EEW SPC, Dajin Offshore, Jan De Nul, Hellenic Cables and Siemens Energy.

UNITED KINGDOM

Floating Offshore Wind Farm

Ayre

Thistle Wind Partners

$3.5bn

Development of a 1GW floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Orkney, successful through the ScotWind leasing round. Seabed surveys have commenced, which will include geophysical and metocean studies. Should consent be granted in 2025, financial close will occur in 2028.

JAPAN

Offshore Wind Farm Hibikinada

Hibiki Wind Energy

$1.5bn

Construction of a 238MW nearshore wind farm, located 10km off the Port of Kitakyushu City in Kyushu Island. Vestas has been selected to supply 25 x V174-9.5MW turbines, alongside long-term active management services for the units.

USA

Offshore Wind Farm Empire Wind II

Equinor & BP

$2bn

Proposal for an additional capacity in the lease area OCS-A 0512 14 miles south of Jones Inlet, Long Island, totalling 1,260MW. Sembcorp Marine Offshore Platforms has secured a turnkey EPC, offshore hookup and commissioning contract for the offshore substations of the Empire Wind 1 and 2 projects.

5

UNITED KINGDOM

Offshore Wind Farm

Hornsea Three Ørsted

$6bn

Development of a 2,852MW offshore wind farm located 120km off the coast of Yorkshire in the North Sea.

Cadeler has inked two contracts totalling between US$548m to US$768m for the installation of monopile foundations and approximately half of the project's wind turbines.

NKT has also secured a contract for the HVDC on- and offshore export cable system, estimated at around €500m.

6

BANGLADESH

Offshore Wind Farm Bay of Bengal Bangladesh

Bangladesh Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources

$3bn

26 prospective blocks have been identified in both deep and shallow seas. A site selection process for the Bay of Bengal and Bangladesh power system will be established and the two most promising blocks will be studied in greater detail during the detailed feasibility study.

7

INDONESIA

PLTP Baturaden Geothermal Power Plant

Sejahtera Alam Energy (SAE)  $900m

A geothermal power plant in Baturaden, Indonesia, with a capacity of up to 2 x 110 MW. The reserves in the area can reach up to 280MW. SAE seeks to renew its exploration permit, which expired on 10 January 2023. Three exploration wells were drilled by SAE, but the results were unsatisfactory – hence the drilling of additional exploration wells.

8

UNITED KINGDOM

Westray Firth Floating Tidal Turbine Project

Orbital Marine Power  $147m

Development of a 30MW tidal project consisting of 12 units of the 2MW each O2 floating tidal turbines in Westray Firth, adjacent to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). The Crown Estate Scotland has awarded an option agreement to Orbital Marine Power for the project. Orbital already has a grid connection in place for the proposal.

9

NETHERLANDS

Offshore Solar Farm

Hollandse Kust Noord (North)

CrossWind $100m

Development of an offshore solar farm located around 18.5km from the coast. The farm will be positioned within the 759MW offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust Noord. Oceans of Energy was awarded the contract to install the solar plant, which will be online in 2025.

10

ISRAEL

EWP-EDF One Project

Eco Wave Power

$20m

Construction of a wave powered energy station at the Port of Jaffa in Tel Aviv. Eco Wave Power has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Israeli National Electric Company for the project. The PPA is based on the official feed-in tariff set by IEA in August 2022.

ARGENTINA –PARAGUAY

Corpus Christi Hydro Power Plant

Comisión Mixta del Río Paraná (COMIP)

$4.5bn

Development of a 2.83.1GW hydro power plant on the Paraná River, on the border between Argentina and Paraguay. The plant would feature 20-22 Kaplan turbines and concrete face rockfill dams (CFRDs). Argentina's Energy Secretary has presented the project to potential German investors.

12 NIGER

Solar Farm Niger

Savannah Energy $200m

Proposal of a 200MW solar project in southern Niger near the border with Nigeria and within 20km of the cities of Maradi and Zinder. The development consists of two solar farms with capacity between 50MW and 100MW. An MoU has been signed for the project, and feasibility studies will take place in the next 12 months.

Photo credit: www.offshorewindscotland.org.uk

THE FUTURE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY

Flotation Energy and Vårgrønn are leading the way in the development of offshore wind projects. Determined to support the global movement to Net Zero and sustainable energy consumption, our core strengths lie in finding and developing sites for floating projects in deeper waters globally. Together we have harnessed our expertise to deliver reliable oil and gas electrification and decarbonisation projects that will pioneer the future of renewable energy.

Salamander signs exclusivity agreement for Scottish floating wind lease

Salamander, a joint venture between Ørsted, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7, has signed an exclusivity agreement as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.

The 100 MW Salamander floating offshore wind project, located 35km off Peterhead, is designed to provide Scotland and its supply chain with an early opportunity to deliver floating offshore wind ahead of the larger-scale ScotWind buildout.

With the Exclusivity Agreement in place, the project will start offshore wind development work while Marine Scotland’s planning process for the INTOG Sectoral Marine Plan (INTOG SMP) is completed. With gigawatts of floating wind buildout expected in Scotland and the UK over the next decade, Salamander will be a valuable steppingstone to ensure local supply chains are ready and able to take full advantage of this opportunity.

Salamander will demonstrate a package of innovative technologies at commercial scale, readying them for roll out in utility-scale projects such as the ScotWind leases. These technologies will be critical to ensuring floating offshore wind energy is deliverable, affordable for consumers and contributes value to local industry and business.

The INTOG round was split into two pots – one for smaller scale innovation projects of 100 MW or less and one for larger projects linked to oil and gas infrastructure. Salamander was successful in the innovation route.

A series of public consultations are set to be held by the Salamander floating offshore wind project next month.

The in-person consultation events will take place from 2pm – 8pm on Wednesday, 7 June at Balmoor Stadium, Peterhead, and from 10am to 2pm on Thursday, 8 June at Crimond Public Hall. Each event will include a short presentation, a question-and-answer session, and opportunities to provide project feedback. The consultation will also be open virtually via the Salamander website between Monday, 5 June and Friday, 23 June.

BlueFloat Unveils 7.5 GW of Floating Wind Projects in Philippines

On 2 June, BlueFloat Energy announced that the company had secured contracts for four (floating) offshore wind project sites in the Philippines and thus entry into the country’s offshore wind market.

On 2nd June, BlueFloat Energy announced that the company had secured contracts for four (floating) offshore wind project sites in the Philippines and thus entry into the country’s offshore wind market.

These are Wind Energy Service Contracts (WESCs), or Offshore Wind (OSW) Service Contracts (SCs), that are being awarded by the Philippines’ Department of Energy, which reported in April that it had allocated as many as 63 OSW SCs with a total potential capacity of 49.9 GW by that time.

BlueFloat Energy acquired contracts for sites that are located offshore Central Luzon, South Luzon, Northern Luzon, and Southern Mindoro.

According to the Philippine media, BlueFloat’s projects have a total capacity of 7.5 GW, with individual offshore wind farms’ capacities ranging between 1.5 and 3.5 GW.

In a press release on 2 June, the Spain-based developer said that it had been working for more than 18 months on unlocking the offshore wind potential in the country and that its plan was to leverage its floating wind expertise and global experience to develop projects along the Philippine coasts.

BlueFloat Energy also said it would work closely with the local communities, government entities, and other stakeholders to ensure that its projects comply with environmental regulations, respect local cultures, and provide long-term benefits for the communities in which it operates.

“BlueFloat Energy’s entry into the Philippine market fits well within the company’s strategy for the Asia Pacific region, with project developments already underway in Australia (first feasibility license application submitted for Greater Gippsland area in April this year), New Zealand and Taiwan. BlueFloat Energy now looks forward to supporting the Philippine government in the deployment of the cutting-edge floating wind technology and paving the way for the energy transition”, the company states in the press release.

In 2019, the World Bank published a report that estimates the Philippines’ technical offshore wind potential to be around 178 GW, with 18 GW of potential suitable for bottom-fixed and 160 GW for floating wind technology.

Illustration; GustoMSC

Davis Larssen, Chief Executive Officer for Proserv

Interview by Moray Melhuish – Founder of Annet Consulting, an Offshore Wind and Subsea Specialist

Hi Davis, can you introduce yourself and Proserv, please?

I’m Davis Larssen, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Proserv. We are Aberdeen and UK headquartered, traditionally within oilfield services, and a global controls technology company that has spent the last three or four years making a pivot into renewables. I have been in the business myself for 13 years across various roles and I enjoy playing a central part as CEO, driving Proserv into a new direction.

We've got 13 sites around the world, including several in the UK and a sizeable presence in Houston, Texas, two big facilities in Norway, and then four locations across the Middle East and India.

How did you find the pivot into renewables? How was the reception?

The first year or two, I would say there was a lot of 'Why are Proserv here? What do you think you can do for us?' because we were seen as an oilfield services company or a controls technology company. But I would say over the last 12 to 18 months, that view has very much changed to 'We now recognise and understand what you can do. How can you better help us to make those forward steps?' So I have personally seen a big change with that.

That's good to hear. At the end of the day, it is an energy transition. There's no point in getting rid of all the expertise from before and reinventing the wheel. Do you think the amount of capital coming in from oil and gas has helped that perception?

I think it's helped in some ways. We've seen some of the major oil and gas players over the last few years take a more visible part in renewables. So, a lot of the bigger customers from oil and gas are also pivoting into that space, doing a similar thing to what we've done. At the risk of getting into a contentious area, we have the whole political landscape that's behind it all. But certainly, as somebody who's been in the north-east of Scotland for

30 years of my life, I see a huge wealth of skill sets and expertise in this area that, if we are not careful, we could lose substantially and so not embrace the ability to transform Scotland and the UK's wider fortunes in offshore wind, and floating offshore wind specifically.

Did I read that your ECG™ holistic cable monitoring system for offshore wind had been installed at Dogger Bank?

Yes, you did. So, it's being installed on Dogger Bank A and B, hopefully it will be getting installed on Dogger Bank C and subsequent developments. It is the first of its kind and it's in the process of being installed on Equinor’s Hywind Scotland as well, which will give it another full live demonstration of its real-time monitoring capabilities on a floating asset.

How do you find the actual contracts used in offshore wind?

Right now, because they very much follow the EPC ‘lowest up-front cost wins’ model, there's very little focus on the total cost of ownership, reliability and uptime. We think that's where the significant improvements are going to come. We know, for example, through our ECG™ solution and what we're projecting through our cable monitoring and our developing wider holistic wind farm monitoring, you can effectively increase the capacity of a typical offshore wind farm by 15 to 18% - that's like the equivalent of an extra free wind turbine, essentially, if you can manage the balance between efficiency, reliability and uptime in the right way. But if operators and developers don’t think about that at the outset and new assets are approached solely from an EPC perspective, then it isn’t built into the whole design functionality. This is one of the major parameters that we feel needs to change in the industry.

Thinking about your entry into the offshore wind market and the potential for your technology, it sounds like the opportunity for that capability is massive. I would imagine that there are also considerable opportunities for potential employees too?

Any given month, we've got roughly 40 to 45 open vacancies globally across the 13 sites I referred to. Our success rate at the moment is we're probably hiring about 25 to 30 of those vacancies every month. We're hiring right across the scope, in terms of functions, so predominately engineering based and we've got everything from wind turbine controls engineers to software developers, to mechanical and hydraulic engineers, project managers - everything across that whole spectrum because obviously, we're trying to push into a new area here. So, we are looking to hire people who've got specific domain knowledge in those areas to marry them up with the existing know-how that we have internally, and those 40 to 45 jobs are effectively across the industry as well.

Given that you are headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland, are you seeing big demand for local content?

We are seeing a lot of people ‘talk’ about local content. It's an interesting conundrum right now because if you look at a lot of the big hardware and infrastructure, you know, the turbines, the blades, the foundation systems - we're struggling from an infrastructure perspective to build that kind of stuff in Scotland and the UK in general. And typically, where we've got the capacity, we struggle to compete with other parts of the world where they have lower costs of labour.

So, I think there's a geopolitical question, or problem, that's going to come to the fore in the next few years around that. I can certainly see us being prepared to pay a premium to build that equipment in Scotland to create jobs. But I think the limitation is going to be that we'll never be in a position to export this capability to other parts of the world. With what I've been talking about and what Proserv is focused on from a software engineering and controls domain knowledge perspective, the cable monitoring perspective, we've got the ability, we think, to create a number of highly paid, highly skilled jobs and use them as an exportable trend like we did in oil and gas 50 years ago from the north-east – but not on the infrastructure side. And that's a big change that the industry will have to go through over the coming years.

Proserv is involved in both oil and gas and offshore wind, which is great. As I say, it's an energy transition, so what is a fair transition to you?

It's a very good question. Four or five years ago when we started our pivot, we recognised the transition was underway and we didn't quite know at that point where we should play in it, but it's obviously gathered pace since then. So, the transition is important. I think it's difficult for anybody to argue that we don’t need, as a society, to move to more renewable sources of energy globally, but it can't happen overnight.

We have been reliant on oil and gas for a long, long time. So, from an energy security perspective, as has been highlighted by the conflict in the last 18 months in Ukraine, that's brought added pressure to a lot of markets, including the UK, and we need to make this transition in a just and viable manner to protect the expertise and the livelihoods of people who are employed in that sector today, and to make sure that some of those people are capable of making the pivot across into the renewables sector as well.

So, I think it's a struggle to put an exact timeline on it but if you look today at the percentage of energy in the UK generated by renewables versus oil and gas – if we simply turn off oil and gas, we’d have big problems. We would struggle to function as a society, and I realise that is not necessarily a popular view with everybody, but for me it's the reality of where we are, probably for the next five to ten years.

We need to make the transition in a just manner, to protect and retain the skills sets and the knowledge base to benefit renewables, at the same time as not having to import our energy from somewhere else, potentially at much greater cost and with a bigger carbon footprint.

That's right. So, how do we accelerate that transition from your perspective and particularly, of course, the offshore wind elements which you're involved with?

I think there are a few elements to this. Part of it is adopting technology, and part of it is involving the supply chain in creating solutions. So, how do we help some of the bigger operators and developers to have an incentive to test new technologies, to accelerate that process, to try something different? So, I think there needs to be some discussion around that.

Ideally for me, I would like to see a multiyear energy policy covering the whole of the UK. So, something like a 20-year strategy that sits above the political dynamic that happens from election to election. I realise I am not in control of that, but I think that is the main element, if you could wave a wand and change one thing. To give the UK a chance to stand head and shoulders above any other country in the world.

For those who are students, and perhaps early on in their careers, would you have any advice to people considering a career in the industry.

There are probably a few aspects to this that I would reflect on. One is don't get hung up on renewables versus oil and gas. In the last few years we’ve seen some graduates and apprentices saying they don't want to come into oil and gas because it's a dead industry. The skill sets are transferable between the two. A lot of the bigger oil and gas operators are all making pivots towards renewables. If you join a company in oil and gas today, the chances are you'll be involved in renewable energy, if not tomorrow, at some point in the future.

I would say, don't be hesitant or afraid to step into roles where you don't know how you're going to be successful, or situations where you don't know what the solution is, because developing the ability to be part of a team that solves complex problems in harsh environments stands you in huge stead. If you are starting out as a graduate or an engineer, don’t always take the easy option. Sometimes, the harder option is the better long-term gain to develop you as a person.

How do you define success for Proserv?

We're very well known today in the oil and gas space, I would like to think, as the controls technology provider of choice. I would also like to think in five to ten years we are recognised as that across the broader energy space. Totally OEM agnostic, and the partner that operators come to for ‘the position of truth’, and to understand how they improve the performance, the reliability and uptime of their offshore wind or oil and gas infrastructure. That’s where we want to get to.

A Proserv technician surveys an offshore wind farm

Adam Morrison, UK Country Manager at Ocean Winds

Interview by Moray Melhuish – Founder of Annet Consulting, an Offshore Wind and Subsea Specialist

I am delighted to be here with Adam Morrison today. Adam is UK Country Manager at Ocean Winds. Welcome to the podcast Adam. Can you introduce yourself and Ocean Winds please Adam?

I am the Country Manager for Ocean Winds UK. Ocean Winds is an international offshore wind developer, and we aim to develop, construct, and operate offshore wind assets in a number of different markets. We were formed in 2020 by EDP Renewables and ENGIE to focus on the offshore wind market and to grow, which we have done quite successfully in the last few years.

Nearly 17 gigawatts in our pipeline and around a third of that is in the UK. So, the UK and the Edinburgh office is a key hub in our business.

What can you tell us about your UK portfolio then?

We have got a really interesting portfolio now, particularly off the back of ScotWind results last year, so we have a mixture of assets in different phases. So, Moray East is operational, Scotland's largest fully operational offshore wind farm at the moment. Hot on its heels is Moray West, which is now in construction, so two projects in the Moray Firth that together will deliver nearly 2 gigawatts of power.

But we have now also got development pipeline all located in Scotland, comprised of a site called Caledonia which is predominantly fixed bottom offshore wind site near Moray East and Moray West in the outer Moray Firth, and two sites located just off Shetland. So, a very diverse portfolio, the Shetland sites will be floating. So, next year’s technology will be a mixture of different phases that all those projects are in.

Can you give us a flavour for the type of budgets, the number of people? Tell us a little bit more about what it takes to deliver windfarm projects like this.

Yeah, I think that's one of the things that's really fascinating about offshore wind in particular, the amounts is staggering. So, we're talking about £2 billion plus capital investment projects and the spend even in the development phase, you typically are looking at tens into hundreds of millions just during the development phase of these projects. It's a staggering amount of investment and we can only do that successfully with the right people to do it.

That's really the core of what we do. I would say in particular, in our hubs like Edinburgh and Fraserburgh, where we have got staff that develop and build and operate these projects.

Great. And what's the time scale like for delivery of these other projects? So, you mentioned Morey East, Caledonia.

So the next thing on the horizon in terms of operational projects is Moray West and we hope to have more that fully operational by 2025. So, it's in the middle of construction at the moment. It should start producing power next year, be fully operational by 25 and we then like to deliver Caledonia by 2030. That depends on delivery of grid connections for all the Scotland projects. But Caledonia, we want to bring forward quickly. It's one of the only fixed bottom sites that was awarded through ScotWind, and we believe we can be fast with that site.

The Shetland projects are more complex in their nature because they're very remote and so we need to work with our partners on those projects to identify the route to market and the best way to bring those projects forward, which we're working on at the moment. But we're ambitious here about getting these projects delivered quickly.

How does your supply chain look for delivering these projects? How many direct suppliers would you have for the construction of wind farm and what type of goods and services would they be for?

Traditionally in construction phase, offshore wind has been delivered on a multi contract basis, but with a small number of large contracts, so, wind turbines, foundations, cable substations. But then there's a huge number, probably into the thousands by the time you complete a project. If you go through development and construction phase into the thousands of smaller contracts that you order and the size of those. So, we're interacting with them, so another thing by offshore wind I think makes it really interesting to work in is just the breadth of different supply chain capabilities that we need to draw on from local legal services through to international fabrication manufacturing contracts. Nowadays there's been a move towards progressively more multi contracting. So that's something that we are doing, for example, at Moray West.

Okay. Can you tell me more about supply chain constraints? Are there specific areas where you see shortages, for example, or challenges?

Yes, it's complex, particularly at the moment because of world events, of course. But I think the three I would pick particularly are foundations and that that's largely driven by scale now of foundations, whether that's fixed bottom or floating offshore.

The scale is incredible. So, there are very small number of places that have the infrastructure and the people to produce, to fabricate steel work on that sort of scale.

Another example and, you know, I think that this is very much a current day issue for the industry, both for construction and operation, is large vessels have. Again, the scale of what we're installing now is enormous, wind turbine technology keeps growing, which is what's helped bring the cost of energy down. And so therefore there's quite a small range of vessels that can actually install the type of equipment that we're buying and so that is present day constraint. But there is investment going into going into that new, larger next generation class vessel appearing. Then the third, which is kind of often forgotten and it's maybe not seen as being the most exciting bit of the supply chain, but I think is absolutely crucial is electrical equipment. Even if you look away from the wind farms into our energy networks, we need to transform our energy networks around the world and the scale of investment in transmission networks, so things like cables and transformers is incredible.

So you mentioned your footprint in the northeast of Scotland, in Fraserburgh, you must have quite a considerable footprint locally there.

We do, so we have a base in Fraserburgh. We're developing a new base in Buckie as well. So, we'll have a hub across those two sites. But we've also built electrical infrastructure across two different substation sites with different cable routes as we have been present in that area now for more than ten years, either engaging through the development of our projects or by building facilities and having offices and having presence there.

Thinking about the impact off offshore winds more broadly, how do we address concerns around biodiversity?

I expect that we're going to face progressively greater scrutiny here as we deploy more and more. So, there is cumulative impacts of what we do and also floating offshore wind brings a different type of interaction with the environment in certain ways. So, we can never rest on our laurels now. But we're subject to quite a lot of scrutiny through the planning process.

So, I do feel that it's something that we as a developer do well or aim to do well. We've got a very strong team and a lot of in-house capability and we're subject to a lot of scrutiny. So, these projects have to show that they've assessed the impact that they're going to have very carefully before they're deployed.

The other thing I would say, and again, bearing in mind the planning trajectory here, we want to deploy fixed and floating offshore wind in a greater scale, we have to keep data gathering and that's connected with every project, but also just in the round as an industry we have to keep data gathering so that we are constantly able to assess what is best practice.

We work with the universities and other research institutes and consultants to make sure we're constantly evaluating our approach to this and making sure that we're adopting best practice.

Tell me about your innovation team.

Yeah, that's something we're proud of. It was formed early in the life of Ocean Winds. I think probably the core rationale is that we're constantly pushing the boundaries as a sector. If you look at some of the things we're doing in our portfolio, for example, we're using next generation wind turbine technology, pushing the boundaries of using monopiles in deeper water.

We're constantly pushing. So, it makes sense to then make sure that structurally we're looking at innovation within our business. And so that team is there to coordinate innovation activities that we're doing across the portfolio and make sure it's championed. So, it looks at all different technologies, but I think one area that's particularly interesting is floating wind, where there's a lot of innovation still to come, although we've deployed one of the largest floating projects in the world, continual innovation is going to be needed to fully commercialise floating offshore wind

What was it about the UK that made ocean wins

want to invest here?

We had a cornerstone project, so Moray East I would say is typically described as one of the cornerstone projects of the Ocean Wind's portfolio. So, we had that within the existing portfolio that was already a joint venture between EDPR and ENGIE. So, that gave us the starting point. The UK market is one of the largest and that's through relatively long-term political support for the sector, and that's crucial now, there's now ever-increasing international competition in this sector, so keeping the investment conditions right, so that international investors like us continue to spend money developing and building projects is absolutely crucial.

So, we were in the UK market because of the seabed made available and there was support and that gave us the cornerstone projects. But now to build on that, we need to make sure as a country that the investment conditions stay right and that we can keep building projects.

The UK is one of the world's largest markets for offshore wind. How do we keep the UK in that leading position and any changes that you would like to see made to enable that to h appen?

Yeah, it's really important that the UK doesn't rest on its laurels. I think make making sure investment conditions are right is one thing, but perhaps away from offshore wind project delivery, I think much greater ambition on how we deploy our energy networks is needed. We've historically taken a very precautionary approach to building new electricity networks in order to

protect the electricity consumer and that, of course, is well intentioned. But I think we need to start treating it as an emergency and building our energy networks on an emergency footing, so that's the key change.

And I'd like to find out a little bit more about you. How do you come to be UK country manager for Ocean Winds? Tell us about your career.

So I started in wave and tidal nearly 20 years ago, which was a fantastic few years and very cutting edge. And I ended up in wave and tidal almost by complete accident, but it was an amazing few years working on that that side of the sector in Edinburgh. I then did a whistle stop tour of different technology, so I moved into small onshore wind and then larger onshore wind and eventually the offshore wind sector over ten years ago. I've been here in that space since and I've been working on the Moray Firth projects actually for near enough ten years now.

Are we doing enough to get young people into our industry?

We can never do enough. I think we're doing more and more, we as a developer and I think the sector generally is doing more and more. The word collaboration can get overused sometimes, but I think there's been some good collaboration around skills and STEM initiatives. We're upping our game, but it is a challenge, the skills problem is going to bite us. I don't think it's only young people, I think we need to look broadly how we bring more people and a diverse range of skills and backgrounds into our sector.

So, we've got to sell why people would want to work in renewables. We think it comes naturally to us, we work in renewables every day and we love it. So, it's something that we take for granted, I think, but we need to we need to sell the sector and we need to make sure we commit enough time to developing our next generation of workforce or we are going to run substantially short on people.

As the country manager for the UK, how do you define success for the organization that you lead?

A key success factor for us is safely deploying and operating our projects. The work safety has to come first, what we do is diverse and there are a lot of risks particularly, but not only when you look at the offshore construction aspect, but we're dealing with water, electricity, excavation, everything. So we have to put safety in front of it and safety of our people is always going to be top of my list personally. But then we're here to deploy and operate projects and to maximize the performance our wind farms. So, those are top of my list

As a successful guy in the industry. Adam How do you define success for yourself personally?

That's a very tricky question. For me, I think working with good people on something I enjoy and something that's varied as well, so in my current role it's very varied and that definitely makes me tick. Certainly, offshore wind offers generally a great deal of variety from one day to the next. You never quite know what some of

these projects are going to throw at you from one day to the next. So, that motivates me personally. I mean, more broadly, health and happiness of my family.

In each episode we ask our guests to leave us with a question for the next guest without actually knowing who they are. The last podcast we recorded; Episode 12 was with Alan McAskill, Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Flotation Energy. Alan left us with this - How do we get power all the way from the wind farm to the consumer? How do we improve the processes of getting the grid connection so we can supply energy to the people?

So, Alan must have known then it was going to be an electrical engineer fielding that question who's currently on a soapbox about all of those things. So, how long have you got? I think we've probably covered this slightly already. It's a well-known problem and it's a very nuanced problem as well because there's historic bits of regulation, there's supply chain constraints, there's how you make sure the consumer is protected while we spend a lot of money on all of this, because we will need to spend a lot of money on it. And we need to be prepared as a society, I think, to invest. So, it's a very nuanced problem and I'm trying to bundle it up into a sound bite that I think it needs to be on an emergency footing.

I'm quite convinced that society will see the benefit of investing in our energy networks. Historically, it has, I think people in particularly rural parts of the country recognize the societal benefit of having energy networks, energy security and jobs. So, I think I'm convinced it will be low regret for us to invest in our energy networks on an emergency footing.

GEODIS develops innovations for the Floating Offshore Wind industry

GEODIS is a world leader in transport and logistics, with widely acknowledged expertise in all aspects of the supply chain. As a growth partner for its customers, GEODIS is committed to supporting their development while minimizing the environmental impact of their logistics.

Since 2019 the dedicated Offshore Wind division of GEODIS Project Logistics has participated in various projects around the globe and developed solutions for the offshore wind market.

A frame of reference of the Offshore Wind Technologies

The first offshore wind farm (OWF) was installed in 1987 and since then it has become a mature industry with well-known technologies, constantly looking for cost reductions and innovations to accelerate its growth. So far, most of the OWF is bottom-fixed (wind turbines assembled on fixed foundations) but current trends indicate a strong push towards floating OWF (wind turbines assembled on floating foundations). Installing at deeper locations present some significant technical and financial challenges, but also many benefits: higher and

steadier wind available, very low visibility from shore, access to new areas for OWF development…

To reduce the LCoE (Levelized Cost of Energy) of offshore developments, the industry is evolving towards bigger wind turbine generators (WTGs). OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) have already designed and tested 15 MW turbines and are even working on 20 MW models. However, transporting and installing such turbines (and their foundations) present major technical difficulties, and space constraints. The supply chain of the floating offshore wind industry isn´t established yet, and only a few prototypes or pilot projects have been installed so far around the world.

That is why GEODIS collaborates with technology designers and installation companies to develop innovations that could solve some of the critical issues in this sector.

Launching of floating foundations

Floating foundations are designed with very large weights and dimensions to minimize movements induced by waves, currents, and wind. For instance, an 8 MW prototype could reach 3000 tons and 80m length x 20m high and scale up to 15 MW would mean estimated weights of 7000 tons (steel) and dimensions of 90-100m length x 25-30m high. Weight is significantly higher for concrete floaters. Transferring these massive structures from their fabrication or storage yard up to their location at berth, floating and ready for WTG assembly, is called a launching operation. Floating docks, semi-submersible vessels, and skidding or lifting systems are various ways to perform such operations. Unfortunately, the lack of versatility of existing launching solutions (either technical or financial) impedes full operability and limits their use to specific types of floaters. Therefore, GEODIS has taken up the challenge to design its own semi-submersible structure, with the following characteristics:

• Beam enabling long-distance transport without major overhang and reducing significantly wave slamming loads

• Deck bearing capacity and structure suitable to support massive weights of both steel and concrete floaters

• Sufficient ballasting capacity and submersible draft adapted to all kinds of float-off operations

• Daily charter rates in line with existing semi-submersible vessels of lower capacity

• Strong focus on energy consumption and environmental impact reduction

Developers, Contractors, and Government agencies have shown widespread interest in this solution and recently the consortium EUROPORTS – GENIE WIND – GEODIS was awarded funding by the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) to produce further technical and commercial studies towards commercialization of this solution.

WTG Installation onto floating foundations

As explained previously, a constant increase in wind turbine generation capacity also means larger dimensions and heavier components (approx. 800 tons) to be installed higher from sea level (up to 150m). This is increasing the costs and the technical challenges of installing and servicing wind farms as current installation methods require ever larger, more expensive, and specialized vessels and cranes, many of which are not yet built or available.

That is why GEODIS decided to join the project SENSEWind in 2020 and develop this solution for floating offshore wind. SENSE is a Self-Erecting Nacelle and Service System that installs, services, and decommissions large wind turbines without extra-large special cranes or crane vessels. SENSE allows the full nacelle and rotor assembly to be lifted at a low level to a frame attached near the base of the tower. The system then raises the assembly to the top of the tower on tracks integrated into the tower and tilts for installation. SENSE can be used for all onshore and offshore turbines, on taller towers or otherwise inaccessible sites.

In 2022, the UK’s Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has granted £10 million to Technology Partners SENSEWind, Glosten and Subsea Micropiles, as well as six Delivery Partners (including GEODIS) to continue the design and development of their disruptive technologies and test a 2 MW SENSE turbine demonstrator onshore.

With its strategy to develop innovative solutions for the offshore wind industry, GEODIS once again demonstrates its commitment to being the growth partner of its clients.

Kieran Ivers, CEO of Green Rebel Group

Interview by Moray Melhuish – Founder of Annet Consulting, an Offshore Wind and Subsea Specialist

Can you introduce yourself and your business, please?

My name is Kieran Ivers, I'm the CEO of Green Rebel Group. Green Rebel is actually a collection of companies who are kind of like a mini conglomerate. Green Rebel was established just over two years ago in Ireland to service the offshore wind industry.

Green Rebel is focused primarily on data acquisition and data processing to inform developers during the consenting process, data that helps judge environmental impacts, but also influence and give data on engineering design out their wind farms. As of today, there are actually four key areas to our business.

The marine team operate a number of survey vessels, typically they would be used for geophysical surveys on proposed wind farm sites. Our flagship vessel being the Roman Rebel, is a 35-meter vessel and then scaling down to a number of inshore vessels, down to a number of ribs. Each of those vessels has a number of different purposes, some are further offshore than others. Typically, we would drive the demand for those vessels internally with our own geophysics team, but we also are active in the charter markets, supporting other developers or supporting other service providers in that area. So, I alluded to the fact we have a geophysics team as well, we have a service unit both onshore and offshore scientists who will go on our vessels and acquire the data. Once that data is acquired on a proposed wind farm, it then comes ashore, and we have a team at Green Rebel who will do the necessary processing and interpretation and provide reports to teams within offshore wind farm developers. We also have an aerial ecology team. certainly, at the early stages in the DEVEX phase, certainly in the UK and Ireland, the technique of aerial based ecology is prominent. We operate a number of airplanes out of Cork Airport here in Ireland and we do that based on ecology, basically assessing birds, migratory patterns, mammals, and other objects on the seabed. So that's a 24-month process.

We also acquired a company, a limerick company in Ireland called IDS Monitoring. They are a company with over 25 years’ experience in the Med Ocean area. So effectively measuring water quality waves and currents. But through some innovation, we also developed a platform called Floating Light, which effectively helps wind developers

quantify the wind resource, which again informs ultimately the price and how much output they can get from the wind that is there, which then informs engineering design. So that's a really key part of our business with a a real international appeal. We also have another department which is Green Rebel Hub. Green Rebel owns quite a large amount of property within Cork Harbour, which over the next 10/20 years will no doubt be a hub for offshore wind energy. Looking at our brand and looking at how we evolve our brand and extend our brand in the future, that's kind of another project we're working on.

Just thinking about Ireland for a second, Kieran. There have been some big announcements from the Irish market over the last week have led to some exciting moves.

There is, the first RESS auction in Ireland happened just a week before last actually, and it was a real positive step in Ireland's pathway towards offshore renewable energy. I think it's worth mentioning in the preface that there was a time when Ireland was a pioneer when it comes to offshore wind energy. I think Ireland's first offshore wind farm was built in Arklow Bank. As of today, it has over 400 onshore wind farms producing something like installed capacity of 5.5 to 6.5 gigs. That's where Ireland's focus was, and it was probably down to the cost of offshore versus onshore at that time. Right now, as of today, wind in Ireland generates one third of our overall energy needs, which is phenomenal. Acceptance of wind energy in Ireland is very, very high. I think a recent study I heard at the Wind Energy Ireland conference, a recent report or a poll showed that 80% of Irish people are very much in favour of wind providing our future energy needs. I think opposition is only at 5%.

Moving forward to last week, that process, some of those six developers that were looking to go to the RESS auction had been in the process for 12 plus years, I think. But nonetheless, we now have something like 3.2 gigs committed. They are Statkraft up in the North Irish Sea, we have RWE, we have Corio Generation, and we have a combination of Fred Olsen and EDF on the Codling Bank. Really good first steps in, and I think the one that really gives a lot of attention for me is is the site on the West Coast, the Sceirde Rock sites for Corio, because I don't know have you seen Ireland's Western seaboard and the Atlantic Ocean? But if you can build something out there, you can build it anywhere. It takes

some of the economic activity away from Ireland's East Coast and puts it on the West Coast. So, I think all in that's been really, really positive, and subject to planning permission, which is the next phase they go through, we would hope that those sites would be operational and producing energy by 2032, which would be fantastic.

That is phase one in Ireland that gets us some way to our own domestic energy requirements, not the full way. Ireland's 2030, 2032 ambitions are around seven gigs, five gigs around are far domestic use, and then a further two gigs for alternative offtake, probably hydrogen in this instance. So, there will be a Phase two RESS auction happening next year where again, a lot of developers more on the South Coast and East Coast and some of the West Coast will vie for more positive results.

You're obviously based in Ireland, but you're not million miles away from the UK markets. Do you work in what Scotland and England and Wales regularly?

Funnily enough, as of right now we're working in all three jurisdictions probably as I speak. We're in the Isle of Man today, but one of our vessels doing survey where we have a large buoy just deployed 70 kilometres off Peterhead in Scotland and we're running lines on a site and with area ecology team down in Wales.

I'm conscious that a lot of our audience are interested in offshore renewables as a potential career path. There must be lots of different disciplines within Green Rebel. Can you just talk a little bit to some of those different types of people you've got in the team?

As I said, Green Rebel is like a mini conglomerate at this point, and I suppose foundationally we've put in a team of we call it our shared services team. It's your typical services that are required to run a business your finance function, your HR Function, your business development function your I.T. function. They are shared resources, and they take up about 20% of our headcount. I would say very few of that team have any experience in offshore wind and all are delighted to get into this industry because it's a really interesting industry. It's quite purposeful in how it's set up, that is kind of the foundation of our business. You're right, not everyone is offshore, we have about 25 of our 100 who operate offshore,

the remaining are onshore. We have a huge variety, a very young workforce, a very optimistic workforce.

Why does offshore wind matter?

Offshore wind matters. We look at the triple benefit, and I know this has been mentioned on previous podcasts as well, but the whole decarbonization piece is ultra important. I'm very bought into the environmental benefits of offshore wind. People tend to focus on the damage to fishing and people tend to focus on the damage to ecology.

I believe in balance, and I believe that actually the biggest threat to both of those institutions is climate change. Offshore wind is one of those, I suppose, really important initiatives for Ireland and other countries to embrace to help tackle that.

The second piece, and I know it's been mentioned, it's energy security and it's energy independence because think about where Ireland is not dissimilar to the UK. We're on the periphery of Europe and traditionally energy has come from Russia and has come from Germany, and it's gone from basically east to west. The opportunity for us now is to take energy from west to east and be a net exporter of our energy. It's hugely important to both of our economies, that it is recognized and that we can move fast because other will take our lunch.

Third piece and maybe the one that most appeals to me being in business is the economic opportunity, the opportunity for job creation, the opportunity for reinvigoration of our coastal communities, the opportunity for critical infrastructure improvements in ports and harbours around Ireland.

Why is innovation so important to Green Rebel?

Innovation should be important to every business because the world moves quickly. Having looked at this industry and when I got into this industry, even now, offshore wind is very reliant on the conventions of oil and gas. When it comes to geophysical survey, it's get a big vessel and fill it up with people and off you go for 10/12 days at a time. But it need not be that way. Innovation and not standing still is critically important.

And the offshore wind developers. Are they ready adopters of innovation?

We see a mixed view on that. I mean, I probably relate it to a developer's risk profile, Moray if I'm honest. The larger developers are more likely to, even within tender, score innovation as a reason to choose a particular supplier. I've seen many large developers investing in innovation, so they have funds available to push forward. At that level, very, very supportive, I guess maybe where we have developers working closely with consultants or someone needs to justify the selection of a vessel, and someone needs to justify their own selection of a plane. I think it just feeds back to my earlier point, if we as an industry can focus on the output, then it gives license to the supply chain to look at different ways of doing things.

I'd like to find a little bit more about you. Can you just take us through your career, please.

I'm a college dropout. I initially studied food science and that didn't work for me, so I dropped out of that and served my time as a carpenter. I'm well used to hard work and cold scaffolding bars in the morning and physically demanding work with my dad who also worked in that industry, he said look you have a choice here, you can either stick at it or go to college and at least get a degree and fall back on something. So that's what I did, I got a marketing degree and very quickly started working in ad world, an ad agency in Dublin. Incredibly from a communications perspective, I think marketing as a discipline is so good that it covers so many bases.

In that time, I worked quite a lot with the Department of the Environment here in Ireland, working on a number of different campaigns. I also worked with other large utilities in that time. I then moved into a large bank in Ireland, Ulster Bank, part of RBS Group, and very quickly figured that this isn't for me, large companies being a number, very much more suited to smaller companies. I moved to a large data company here in Cork, a internally communication software company, big data, selling product to some of the largest companies in the world.

There we really got a sense of how to handle data, how to manage data, how to do business with literally global companies because it's one thing to have assets, it's one thing to have a great idea. But doing business and the expectation of large global companies is it's a whole different ballgame. Then that company was acquired two years ago by a large American VC. The opportunity came up in Green Rebel and at that point Green Rebel was just going through its competency phase and looking to build a business development function. Again, taking my learnings on data, taking my learnings doing business with large multinational companies and applying them to the marine environment, I wouldn't say it's been relatively seamless, but certainly it's a learning that you don't necessarily need to have a background in this industry to be able to impact this industry and feeding back to your innovation point earlier, if you if you indulge me, you know, we're seeing quite a lot of layoffs in Ireland now in the tech industry, but tech and ideas in tech and letting robots and AI replace some of the processes, there's opportunity in this industry as well. If anything I'm testament to the fact that no experience required and as long as I can enable the people who know what they're doing to do what they do best, then my job is done.

You're Chief Executive of the Green Rebel Group. How do you define success for the group?

There is one obvious answer, and that's revenue, that's key that we will look invest in our growth here. So, anything that we make at Green Rebel will be reinvested. Growing the company and taking on more projects. Last year we achieved north of €12 million in one contract and every single cent of that

would have been spent outside of Ireland if Green Rebel did not exist and continuing to build on that and providing inspiration to other entrepreneurs in Ireland to follow the path that we've gone down. We've made plenty mistakes and are happy to share those mistakes as we go down. But you know, we've learned fast, and we fail fast. One of the things that's very important to me and it's very important to me because it's kind of a pay it forward. I've been very lucky in my career to have managers that have really managed me well and given me every opportunity.

In your own personal life, how would you define your own success?

I mean, I'm a very simple person, and I have three young kids at home, and as long they're happy and I'm happy, as long as I'm coming to work every day and it doesn't feel like a drudge, the Sunday night fear, I'm fortunate to say I haven't experienced that in a long, long time.

In each of our episodes, we ask our guests to set a question for our next guest without knowing who it's going to be. In the last episode we met Davis Larssen, the Chief Executive Officer at Proserv, and Davis set this question for you. How do you ensure that the decisions you take today will be reflected positively in 15 to 20 years’ time by the market, our children, and the environment as a whole?

I suppose it feeds back to again, perfection is the enemy of the good and don't strive for perfection. At a policy level it's important for us to recognize that nothing is going to be perfect, and you can't bake a cake without breaking a few eggs.

Ultimately all of this is for the greater good. I think it's important for our officials and for our politicians to ensure that the greater good is represented. As I stated earlier, 80% of Irish people are very much in favour of wind meeting our energy requirements. So, it's taking that on board, and I suppose driving on, as I say here in Ireland. Also, it's very important that data leads decisions and in the absence of data mistakes will happen. Ireland is fortunate actually that we've been slow to the party because we're going to invest heavily in getting the data right and let those database decisions actually expedite the process later as we move through the planning permission phase. I was very encouraged to see this week a wind farm in the North Sea, I think it was off the Netherlands, where turbines are actually being switched off for migratory birds to run through the wind farm, but that's a product of data and that shows the co-existence between environmental and offshore wind can happen, where data is used to guide the future of what we do.

Renewables giant Orsted wins first Danish carbon capture tender

Denmark-based Orsted expects to capture about 430,000 tpa of CO2 at the hub — 380,000 tonnes from the Asnaes power station and 150,000 tonnes from Avedore — which will be liquefied and sent by ships to the Northern Lights offshore CO2 storage facility in the Norwegian North Sea, expected to be completed next year.

The company said the Kalundborg hub could potentially provide shipping for CO2 produced by third-party emitters.

The project has support from Microsoft, which signed agreements in 2021 with Orsted and Aker Carbon Capture that will see the US technology company purchase 2.76 million tonnes of biogenic carbon removal over 10 years.

Commercial value

Orsted said the agreement “demonstrates the commercial value associated with carbon capture and removal.

“Given the nascent state of bioenergy-based CCS, Danish state subsidies and Microsoft’s

Denmark-based player secures 20-year deal for Kalundborg Hub that already has agreement with Microsoft

contract were both necessary to make this project viable.”

Construction of the carbon capture units at Asnaes and Avedore is expected to begin in June this year.

CO2 from the Avedore power station will initially be carried by truck to the Asnaes facility “until a shared pipeline infrastructure across Zealand has been established”, Orsted said.

The company said the straw for the Avedore station is an agricultural by-product and the approximately 380,000 tonnes of wood chips burned to generate heat, electricity and process steam at Asnaes “come from sustainably managed production forests and consists of residues from trimming or crooked trees”, primarily in the Baltics.

“Capture and storage of biogenic CO2 is an important tool to mitigate climate change, and we look forward to initiating the work,” said Ole Thomsen, senior vice president and head of Orsted’s bioenergy business, adding that the company plans to have the CCS systems up and running “at the beginning of 2026”

The O2 – rated at 2 MW with twin 20-metre rotors sweeping more than 600 square metres of area below the surface – is connected via subsea cable to the local electricity grid and is helping power communities in Orkney in a sustainable way.

According to Orbital, it has the ability to generate enough electricity to meet demand for around 2,000 homes and offset approximately 2,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide production every year.

Commenting on the role played by the Intelligent Plant team, Steve Aitken added: “User-friendly dashboards enable quick, secure and easy access to relevant data streams from anywhere in the world. This enables Orbital's engineers to access data from the O2 turbine in real time without a requirement for manual intervention.

“The Industrial App Store also provides data to EMEC's performance test engineers, streamlining the analysis of the tidal turbine's performance as part of EMEC's accredited testing services.”

Aberdeen-based industrial data analytics specialist secured nearly £150k funding

An Aberdeen-based industrial data analytics specialist has secured funding of nearly £150k for a project aimed at enhancing hydrogen production through the use of AI.

Intelligent Plant's project, titled "Feasibility of Explainable AI to support decision making as applied to hydrogen generation", was one of the 32 hydrogen-related projects announced by Scotland's First Minister, Humza Yousaf during the All-Energy event in Glasgow last month to receive funding. These projects are part of Scotland's efforts to achieve a target of 5GW of installed hydrogen production by 2030.

In collaboration with computer scientists from the University of Aberdeen and hydrogen experts from the European Marine Energy

Centre (EMEC), the project aims to create a Decision Support System (DSS) which can be used to make recommendations around hydrogen logistics, and whose recommendations can be queried and corrected as circumstances change. This approach enables operators to engage in discussions with the system, similar to the popular ChatGPT, which has gained significant popularity in recent months. An example discussion between operator and AI could be: Operator: "Why are you generating hydrogen?"

System: "Because there are high winds forecast tomorrow, and this will exceed the capacity of our batteries."

of Aberdeen, explained in a recent interview with Hydrogen Industry Leaders: “The way in which XAI is being used in the project is to help people better allocate hydrogen, and that is both how they’re producing it and how they’re transporting it.”

The trial of this system will take place at EMEC's facilities in Orkney, with operators utilising Intelligent Plant's Industrial App Store, which EMEC has previously integrated with through past projects. The Industrial App Store will provide operators in the field with an accessible

New research from Scottish Enterprise shows potential increase in demand for hydrogen

A suite of new reports published today by Scottish Enterprise reveals increasing potential demand for hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuel in Scotland.

Developing Scotland’s capacity to produce, distribute, store, use and export hydrogen is one component in the creation of a greener economy that supports reaching net zero by 2045.

Announced on the first day of All-Energy, the UK’s largest low carbon energy and full supply chain renewables event held in Glasgow, the reports are designed to help hydrogen producing businesses, their supply chains, and their customers understand how, when and where hydrogen demand will evolve in Scotland.

Building on previous studies, this new research refreshes the estimates on how much hydrogen might be used for industrial processes and non-domestic heating, transport and distilleries by looking at new business sectors not previously covered.

The research also helps hydrogen producers and their supply chains identify customers they can sell their hydrogen to in Scotland. The hydrogen economy presents immediate opportunities for companies in sectors such as oil and gas refining, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, distilleries, glass and mobile generators.

In the longer term, technology and infrastructure improvements will enable more hydrogen use in shipping, heavy goods vehicles, ferries, aviation, construction and agriculture.

David Rennie, head of low carbon energy at Scottish Enterprise, said: “The global transition to green energy, including hydrogen, makes this a lucrative and innovative sector that Scottish companies are well placed to benefit from.

“Scotland’s energy companies and their supply chains are already bringing their considerable expertise and excellence to the energy transition agenda. With our support, most recently in committing £2 million as a founding partner for Scotland’s first Energy Incubator and Scale Up Hub as part of Aberdeen’s Energy Transition Zone, we can position Scotland as a leader in green energy.

“Green energy has the power to transform Scotland’s economy, with significant opportunities coming from clean hydrogen, Scotwind, green heat, and others. Scottish Enterprise is fully committing its significant resources to helping businesses grasp the green energy opportunities and exploit these for a sustainable economic future.”

The key findings from the reports are:

Demand in industry and transport: Based on the medium uptake scenarios, the study estimated that hydrogen demand in industry and transport may reach around 26TWh/year by 2045. For context, the Scottish Energy Strategy estimates that Scotland’s total energy demand could be around 148TWh

by 2045, meaning hydrogen use in industry and transport could fulfil around 18% of Scotland’s total energy needs.

Highest demand by sector: The sectors with the highest potential demand were refining, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, shipping and HGVs. Ferries, distilleries, aviation and the agricultural sectors represent a smaller but still sizable demand. New research on the construction and events sector showed some short-term opportunities for decentralised deliveries of hydrogen-powered generators. Engagement with industry stakeholders highlighted commercial decisions that might lead to further demand beyond this study, for example, fertiliser production in Scotland (currently non-existent).

Geographies with concentrated demand for hydrogen: The highest concentration of demand is in the Central Belt, particularly industrial clusters like Grangemouth and Fife. Other hubs show demand in spots that offer key transport links or connections to the offshore energy industry, such as Ayrshire, Cromarty Firth, the North East, Orkney and Shetland. A Regional Hydrogen Energy Hubs approach will drive short-term opportunities for hydrogen demand development by coupling production with multiple local enduses to build up scale.

Transport: The transport sector with the largest potential demand for hydrogen is shipping, with a possible requirement for more energy-dense fuels like ammonia in Scottish ports that cater to international or heavy freight routes. This was followed by other sectors with vehicles covering long routes where electrification is challenging, like heavy good vehicles, ferries and aviation. Buses and passenger rail were not found to represent significant demand, but have already been key enablers of hydrogen demonstration, and new opportunities could be explored among construction and agricultural vehicles as decarbonisation deadlines approach.

Distilleries: While whisky distilleries all have similar technical uses for hydrogen, the report examines six modes in which distilleries can obtain hydrogen, from on-site production or procurement from a third party, depending on their site’s characteristics. Analysed on a case-by-case basis, these modes represent different costs, regulatory requirements, and potential for new energy efficiencies. Multiple case studies are presented to showcase how distilleries have already trialled hydrogen, sometimes in combination with technologies like anaerobic digestion, to create a bespoke solution.

With the Scotch Whisky sector looking at multiple options to decarbonise its operations, the new research also takes a deeper look at how distilleries can evaluate whether hydrogen is the right choice for their heating requirements.

In the last six years alone, 20 distilleries have opened in Scotland, bringing the total distilling-related businesses in Scotland to 245. Whisky exports represented £6.2 billion in 2022, equating to 75% of all Scottish food and drink exports.

The research contained in the suite of reports was undertaken between December 2022 and April 2023 and covers all of Scotland. The findings will also be used by Scottish Enterprise and its partners to understand where it can best support hydrogen producers as well as help stimulate demand from sectors and businesses that could benefit from using hydrogen in their processes. For the distilleries research, Scottish Enterprise worked closely with Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise.

Scottish Enterprise staff will be presenting the findings of the new reports alongside the report researchers, Ricardo and Element Energy, during the two days of the All-Energy conference.

KENT APPOINTED AS FEED CONTRACTOR FOR SIX GRENIAN HYDROGEN PROJECTS IN UK

Kent has been appointed as FEED contractor for Progressive Energy, Statkraft and Foresight’s joint venture Grenian Hydrogen’s six green hydrogen production sites in the UK.

Based within the HyNet cluster in northwest England and North Wales, all of the six projects will incorporate PEM electrolysers, ranging between 10-30MW of production capacity for 100% fuel switching or blending co-located at the Protos Energy Park, St. Helens, Stretford, Middlewich and Winnington.

Launched in late May (2023), Grenian boasts an initial development portfolio of 200MWe across seven projects, six of which have received funding from the UK Government’s Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (NZHF) and Hydrogen business model.

Kent was awarded a single front-end engineering and design (FEED) study in April 2023 to cover all six sites to develop an AACE class 3 estimate needed to allow final investment decisions (FIDs) to be made.

“The DESNZ funding requirements impose a strict budget and tight timescale, but Kent will achieve all the project requirements utilising our inhouse hydrogen technology expertise built up over decades of early design and FEED work on hydrogen developments, including HyNet,” said Matt Wills, Market Director Low Carbon at Kent.

Wills continued, “We are delighted to be working with the Grenian Hydrogen team to develop a standardised design and layout that offers cost savings through replicability for the portfolio of projects. This cluster of projects is a huge step forward for the future viability of green hydrogen, and we are proud to play our part.”

Aside from the above projects, at its launch, Grenian said it has submitted bids for government funding to support engineering work for two larger “mini cluster” projects in Wrexham and Speke, planned to supply users via a local pipeline network which could connect into a larger hydrogen network being developed by Cadent for Hy Net.

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Everything under the surface

AGR is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy and software provider. We have the experience, agility and creativity to deliver a compelling solution that solves today’s and tomorrow’s energy challenges.

We understand the risks. We manage projects in multi-jurisdictional regions and we understand client pressures to deliver safely, cost-effectively and carbon neutrally.

Network of geothermal power stations

‘could help level up UK’

Many of Britain’s poorest towns are in areas with greatest potential for renewable energy, says report

which will use water from mineshafts to heat 1,500 new homes and a scheme at the Eden project in Cornwall which generates heat to warm Eden’s rainforest and Mediterranean biomes as well as offices, kitchens and greenhouses.

In theory, the UK has enough geothermal energy trapped underground to heat every home for a hundred years. Even by conservative estimates that account for realistic commercial and logistical limits, geothermal energy could help the UK to cut its imports of fossil fuels and rely only on the North Sea for its gas.

Anetwork of underground geothermal plants is being touted as a way to help level up the UK after a report discovered many areas with the greatest geothermal potential lie beneath the towns and cities most in need of investment.

Areas that have been earmarked by the government as part of its levelling up agenda are about three times as likely to be rich in untapped energy from the earth, according to an academic study commissioned by No 10.

The University of Durham found these include Redcar and Cleveland, Middlesbrough, East Lindsey, Hartlepool, Northumberland and Bassetlaw, which all appear in the top 10 of the index used by government to identify local authority areas in need of levelling up.

Other areas well-suited to producing geothermal heat and electricity include Newcastle upon Tyne, North East Derbyshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire and Nottingham.

Harnessing geothermal energy involves drilling a borehole to depths of about two to three miles, to flow cold water at low pressures through the hot rocks beneath the Earth’s surface. A second borehole returns the warm water to the surface where it can be used to heat homes and businesses or generate electricity.

Kieran Mullan MP, who was tasked with producing the report, said the “strong overlap” between areas in need of investment and the best geothermal locations was unexpected, but it could provide another reason for the government to look again at supporting the renewable energy technology.

“Unlike wind or solar this technology provides baseload – it is there constantly. And our expertise in drilling in the North Sea means we are well placed to motor ahead,” Mullan said.

The UK’s early steps into geothermal energy include a project in Seaham, County Durham,

“But we have catching up to do because across Europe there has been much stronger government intervention to support nascent deep geothermal industries in those countries,” Mullan said.

Deep geothermal energy is abundant in Iceland owing to its unique geology but countries in western Europe are increasingly using geothermal energy to help produce green heating.

Already more than 250,000 homes in Paris rely on geothermal heating and the German government has committed to spending €1bn (£860m) before 2035 to create 100 geothermal projects.

Rishi Sunak said the report would help the government decide whether there was a bigger role for deep geothermal energy in the UK economy.

“We have made rapid progress on switching to homegrown renewable electricity and have made energy security a key priority. Success is going to depend on pulling all the levers at our disposal,” the prime minister said.

Carbon capture storage offers the perfect opportunity to scale up net zero ambitions

By Max

With energy transition efforts gathering pace, it is becoming clearer now than ever before, how important technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) are for mitigating climate change risks. Globally, we must capture over four billion tonnes of CO2 by 2035 if we are to meet the 1.5-degree climate goal laid out by the Paris Agreement. To put this into context, in 2021 global crude oil producztion emitted over 4.2 billion tonnes of CO2.

These stark figures showcase that to achieve our climate goals within the time constraints, we must essentially scale up CCS activity to match that of oil and gas.

CCS has increasingly been recognised as a necessary tool for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Its ability to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries has been pivotal, with governments across the world taking significant steps to increase its overall scale. The UK government recently announced its commitment to inject £20 billion of funding into local CCS projects that pump emissions underground throughout the next two decades. There has been no better time to invest in local CCS projects across the UK.

Whilst this is a significant step in the right direction for increasing CCS production in the UK, it is still just a drop in the ocean when considering the estimated CAPEX costs associated with reaching the goal of mitigating four billion tonnes per year by 2035.

Experts have suggested that it could cost up to $1.2 trillion annually to finance this radical deployment of carbon capture technology,

even after considering experience curve benefits. However, this doesn't have to be fully financed by governments. With a decent nudge from the government, I believe it's in the best interest of many industries to lead this development.

The price of CO2 is a crucial element in attracting interest and investment in CCS projects. With the UK currently valuing carbon around £70 per tonne, CCS activity here can be economic.

Traditionally, the slow uptake of CCS activity has been frequently down to its high cost; however, it is important to note that the cost of CCS can be negligible when considering the end-user. For example, even though CCS increases cement and steel costs, the overall construction cost of a bridge only rises marginally, somewhere around 1%. This small cost increase, however, enables a much deeper reduction in CO2 emissions, approximately 51%, that are typically associated with bridge construction.

Industries will inevitably play a critical role in transitioning to a low-carbon future. Many companies have net-zero targets and will need to use a variety of tools such as CCS or geothermal, to achieve this. Data gathered by BloombergNEF shows that investment in CCS activities peaked in 2022 at $6.4 billion. Much of this investment was underpinned by government policies and regulations targeted at supporting the shift to a low-carbon energy sector.

The future of CCS will require solutions on multiple levels, from local industry players, seeking to reduce their own carbon footprint,

to large, complex hubs that governments should provide with transparent and stable regulatory and fiscal frameworks to support industry investment.

Beyond cost, potential CO2 leakage is a concern associated with CCS that can be offputting to developers. Experts, however, are rebuffing these claims, with a recent report shared by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy concluding that there is a high level of confidence in the longterm security of CO2 containment, as more than 99.9% of CO2 will be retained within the storage complex.

However, to ensure that CCS storage is done safely, site location is crucial. There are three primary factors to consider: storage capacity, injectivity, and containment; though finding the ideal geological formation is not as straightforward as it might seem.

At Getech, our goal is to identify the prime sites for carbon storage by seeking out rocks that have large storage potential, thanks to high porosity and permeability, which are overlain by robust seals and in stable geological settings. These components are all key to ensuring that CO2 will be held securely in place for decades to come.

CCS has the ability to be revolutionary in our race to reduce carbon emissions. Its capabilities in decarbonising heavy-emitting industries are unrivalled. But it is evident that for this technology to make an impact, investment both on a public and private level is necessary.

We currently have a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to scale up CCS to meet massive societal needs to mitigate climate change, one that we cannot let pass us by.

Brouwers, chief business development officer at Getech

Max Brouwers

Decarbonisation through intelligent energy management

With a track record of firsts, we are a leader in world-class intelligent energy management and storage technologies for decarbonisation of the energy sector.

We offer a suite of products and services that are agnostic from a power generation and power demand perspective, with applications across the underwater, offshore and onshore sectors.

The Charge Towards Zero Intervention Underwater Inspection

By Andy Martin, Chief Commercial Officer, Verlume

Underwater inspection has seen huge advances over the last four decades, with the sector becoming continually more autonomous with technology advancements, including establishing docking systems for remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous systems for long-distance surveying.

Now, as the importance of underwater infrastructure becomes more prevalent amongst national security concerns, the oil and gas industry is migrating towards two options for the future advancement of these systems: mothership deployed vehicles or subsea resident vehicles.

A recent example of this continued innovation is the operator TAQA who announced a pilot project with offshore survey company Fugro, where an uncrewed surface vessel is being used in conjunction with an electric ROV to inspect two platforms in the Dutch North Sea. This is said to be the first project of its kind in the world.

A New Approach to Infrastructure Design

Verlume is currently developing its own concept to create in-field resident AUV charging and communications stations for prolonged underwater inspection or survey missions.

As part of the Renewables for Subsea Power (RSP) project, where a Verlume Halo battery energy storage system is currently connected to a Mocean Energy Blue X wave energy convertor offshore Orkney, a Transmark Subsea autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) charging dock is integrated onto the Verlume unit for remote recharging from a renewable source (Image 2).

Further building on the integration as demonstrated in the RSP project, Verlume’s new concept will demonstrate that AUVs can dock, recharge batteries, upload data and receive new mission data without requiring offshore intervention.

The concept will look to utilise Halo as the seabed recharging unit which is capable of recharging a fully functional AUV multiple times. The Halo is connected to the surface by a tether leading to a communications buoy that transmits mission data back to shore, receiving new mission parameters via return over-the-horizon communications.

New Concept, New Benefits

A key benefit of the system is that it has lower operational emissions than existing methods that involve topside crewed vessels, as the system has the capability to be powered in-situ through a range of renewable energy sources such as wave, wind, tidal or solar.

In addition, by reducing the reliance on topside vessels the number of vessel days required significantly decreases as well as the number of launch and recoveries to a host vessel, the area where most incidents with AUVs and ROVs occur offshore. As well as this, by providing launch from shore, the cost and safety implications associated with sending personnel offshore also decreases. Safety and reliability can therefore be improved, as complex offshore handling systems are removed.

There is commercial value in using this concept over several sectors of the blue economy, including offshore wind, and especially floating wind, where a significant amount of new subsea infrastructure will be required as the industry grows at pace to meet international climate targets. Other

sectors where this concept will be valuable are oil and gas, carbon capture and storage, defence and security.

As specialists in intelligent energy management and renewable energy integration, we are working hard to create innovative solutions such as the resident AUV charging station in the charge towards further autonomy in this space.

Image 2: Transmark AUV Charging Station on Halo

Image 1: Verlume In-field Resident AUV Charging and Communications Station

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Untangling a perfect storm of compacted crises: The role of wind energy in alleviating the energy crisis.

By Benson John MSc CEng MIMeche, Senior Consultant - R&D Tax Incentives

The UK is highly dependent on natural gas. Although this stems from good intentions, it has unfortunately exacerbated the crisis that was borne off the pandemic and a certain ‘special military operation’ that has gone out of control. As natural gas accounts for 40% of the UKs electricity, this has put our energy supply and its suppliers under intense pressure as winter fast approaches. With fuel poverty looming due to the consistent raising of the energy price cap, coupled by pressure on UK’s natural gas sources, the spotlight on the renewables sector gets brighter.

How is the renewables sector, particularly wind energy poised to take this immense task on, or at least ease the load on our primary

energy sources? The problem with wind and other renewable sources is that, they are not constant. Although the opportunity to accelerate the switch to renewables is there for the taking, there is an impending and low-lying issue of ‘wind drought’ that has taken over Europe. Large areas of mainland Europe have experience a drop in wind speeds in the last year as compared to preceding years’ (between 1991 to 2020) taken as reference. The 2021 drop in wind speed has particularly hit the Northern European countries harder, especially ones

cutting-edge digital tools developed internally, maximise the financial benefits for any type of businesses.

With compliance always front of mind, we have been delivering optimal services for our clients for over 24 years. This provides peace of mind that you will always receive the maximum benefit, without taking risks.

There is now greater demand for high-efficiency wind technologies, with the opportunity for innovation in this sector rife.

that rely heavily on wind energy – Denmark which relies on wind energy for 44% of its energy, and Ireland, 31%. With wind speeds becoming increasingly unpredictable, there is a marked impact on the costs of wind energy. There is now greater demand for high-efficiency wind technologies, with the opportunity for innovation in this sector rife. In addition, a recent analysis from specialist energy market researchers has revealed that opportunities in offshore wind have compounded with 135 Giga-Watts of new capacity available for developers. Challenges and unknowns are strife in the wind energy sector, however technological innovations combined with market intelligence that provides key performance and operational cost indicators such as wind farm transaction databases, coverage of wind farms and the tracking of available government awards of financial support will all feed into the drive to enable wind energy technology and directly alleviate concerns over energy futures 

Philippines' Renewable Energy Sector to Accelerate as the Country Aims for 35% Renewable Energy Mix by 2030: EIC Report

The government's push for renewable energy in the Philippines is likely to decrease oil and gas consumption and attract foreign investment to the Southeast Asian nation.

London, 24 May 2023 - The Philippines is ramping up its adoption of renewable energy to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and meet increasing energy demand, even as the Southeast Asian nation sees a surge in oil and gas consumption and production buoyed by economic growth and government policies.

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This is according to a Philippines Insight Report released today by the Energy Industries Council (EIC), one of the world's leading energy trade associations and purveyor of world-class data, analysis, and networking opportunities.

"The Philippines is taking major steps towards a sustainable energy future," said Azman Nasir, EIC's Director for Asia Pacific. "The country's renewable energy sector has tremendous potential, and the government's commitment to increasing renewable energy in the power mix will provide significant opportunities for foreign investors looking to invest in the Philippines' renewable energy sector."

"The EIC is uniquely positioned to help energy companies in the Philippines connect with supply chain companies around the world, providing them with the necessary resources to achieve the country's energy-related ambitions in renewables, as well as oil and gas," added Mr. Nasir.

According to the report, authored by EIC Senior Analyst Hirzi Iskandar MhdRais, the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE) aims to increase the renewable share in the country's power mix to 35% by 2030 and 50% by 2040. The government is taking significant steps towards achieving this goal, including the development of what will be the country's largest wind farm with a capacity of 160MW, slated for completion in 2023.

“The good news is that renewables and nuclear power are growing quickly enough to meet almost all this additional appetite, suggesting we are close to a tipping point for power sector emissions.”

Where does most of the world’s electricity come from?

The country's power demand is expected to grow significantly by 2040, requiring an additional 43GW of power capacity. To address this, the report said, the DOE is pushing for higher upstream production, with the upstream sector expected to experience growth in the coming years. The government is also making progress on LNG developament, with seven LNG terminals approved, and three projects targeted to commence operations in 2023.

The renewable energy sector in the Philippines is also set to benefit from the government's decision to open the sector to foreign ownership. This move is expected to significantly boost the deployment of renewables in the country, as concluded in the report. Despite having only seven operating onshore wind projects, wind energy capacity is expected to grow in the coming years, with 13 proposed projects currently being tracked in the EICDataStream, the EIC's proprietary worldclass project data repository.

The Philippines has vast offshore wind capacity, which could reach 21GW by 2040 under the high-growth scenario. Establishing a local supply chain will be crucial to achieving this target, the report concluded.

By 2025, renewables will provide 10,799 TWh per year - 35% of total global electricity demand. Coal, on the other hand, will provide 33%. Gas will provide 21% of total energy demand, and nuclear will provide 10%.

According to the International Energy Agency’s Electricity Market Report 2023, 90% of new demand between now and 2025 will be covered by clean energy sources like wind and solar, along with nuclear energy. This growth in output means that renewables will become the world’s largest electricity source within three years - providing 35% of the world’s electricity and overtaking coal.

“The world’s growing demand for electricity is set to accelerate, adding more than double Japan’s current electricity consumption over the next three years,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

Coal currently provides 10,325 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year - 36% of total demand. A terawatt hour is a unit of energy equivalent to outputting a trillion watts for an hour.

This makes the dirty fuel the world’s number one source of electricity, followed by renewables (29%), gas (23%) and nuclear (9%) but this balance is set to change over the next couple of years.

Overall electricity demand will rise by 9% between now and 2025. This surge will come mostly from China, India, and southeast Asia, with infrastructure projects and increasing electrification generating huge demand. The surge will be ‘dominated’ by renewables and nuclear.

The rise in renewable-powered electrification is cause for cautious optimism but power sector emissions reached a record high in 2022, with more than 13 billion tonnes of CO2 emitted. The IEA is now expecting emissions to plateau until 2025 before dropping.

This is not rapid enough. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we must reduce our emissions by 45% by 2030. The power sector’s slow progress bodes poorly for this goal, as it underlies many other sectors like heavy industry and transport.

Swift decarbonisation will require government commitment and investment.

‘Tipping point’: Renewable energy to become the world’s top source of electricity by 2025

Lead-free perovskite solar cell achieves 24.1% efficiency

Scientists from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have developed a new way to synthesize the capping layer of perovskite solar cells without using lead.

“This paves the way for the development of eco-friendly perovskite solar cells that are one step closer to the consumer market,” an NTU spokesperson told pv magazine. “The findings unlock new opportunities for developing superior

materials for the capping layer, for more efficient and stable perovskite solar cells.”

The capping layer of perovskite cells is usually fabricated using the half precursor (HP) method, where a chemical precursor is deposited on top of the perovskite layer. The precursor reacts with the lead ions present on the perovskite layer and forms a leadbased chemical compound that makes up the capping layer.

To make perovskite solar cells more environmentally friendly, the NTU scientists developed a new method known as the full precursor (FP) solution. They coated perovskites with solutions containing metal halide salts and phenethylammonium iodide (PEAI).

the power sector will increase in China, CREA and GEM analysts said, particularly given the country’s rapid progress in scaling up clean energy.

China is recognized as the undisputable global leader in renewable energy expansion, adding new projects to the grid almost as fast as the rest of the world combined in 2022.

“PEAI contains ammonium, a positively charged ion that contains nitrogen and hydrogen, which is vital for the chemical reaction,” NTU explained in a statement.

The team synthesized a zinc-based compound known as PEA2ZnX4 using the FP method and found that it was the most effective capping material among the other materials tested. They then created a prototype solar cell capped with the zinc-based compound.

“Unlike the HP method, there is no need to draw lead ions up from the underlying perovskite layer to form this protective capping layer when the FP method is used. This paves the way for the use of non-toxic metals in the capping layer,” said the scientists.

The perovskite cell reportedly has a conversion efficiency of 24.1% under lab settings. The prototype demonstrated an average light conversion rate of almost 23% over 103 cells tested. It maintained more than 90% of its ability to convert light into electricity for more than 1,000 hours of operation at full capacity.

The scientists are working on scaling up the method to fabricate full-sized solar cells. They are also in the process of filing a patent with NTUitive, NTU Singapore’s innovation and enterprise company.

They shared their findings in “Expanding the low-dimensional interface engineering toolbox for efficient perovskite solar cells,” which was recently published in Nature Energy.

China is making rapid progress in scaling up clean energy, tentatively boosting hopes that the world’s largest carbon emitter could soon start to curb greenhouse gas pollution.

A massive wave of permits for new coal-fired capacity poses a significant challenge to the country’s climate goals, with Beijing seen as “the glaring exception to the ongoing global decline in coal plant development,” according to the Global Energy Monitor.

Research from the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air and GEM published late last month showed China approved the highest number of new coal-fired plants since 2015 last year.

Beijing authorized 106 gigawatts of new coal power capacity in 2022, four times higher than a year earlier and the equivalent of 100 large-fired power plants, the research said.

The extraordinary speed at which China approved the projects was thought to have been driven by energy security considerations, namely electricity shortages following a historic drought and heatwave last summer.

The major additions of new coal-fired capacity may not necessarily mean that carbon emissions from

The build-out comes as part of the government’s strategy to cut its energy intensity and reach peak emissions “in a well-planned and phased way.”

“When we look around the world today, we can firmly see that the energy transition is in progress,” said Mike Hemsley, deputy director at the Energy Transitions Commission think tank.

“China is building renewables at such a staggering rate that it is said to outperform the targets they have set themselves,” Hemsley said at International Energy Week in London last week. He added that around 50% of all renewables built every year were built in China.

“To put that into context, we’ve heard the really admirable goal of Masdar to build 100 gigawatts of renewables by 2030 [but] China every year is building around 75 gigawatts of wind and in excess 100 gigawatts of solar every year,” Hemsley said. Masdar is the UAE’s state-owned renewables developer.

On its current trajectory, Hemsley said that Beijing is on track to reach 1,800 gigawatts of total renewables by 2030. That would be 50% higher than Chinese President Xi Jinping’s target of 1,200 gigawatts of total renewables by the end of the decade.

“The implications of that being [that] they will outperform their Nationally Determined Contribution, and they are likely to peak emissions way before 2030, some say around 2025 [or] 2026,” Hemsley said, describing this as “really positive news.”

‘A hot, still summer evening is the worry’

The International Energy Agency said earlier this month that, while still rising, global carbon emissions may at least be reaching a plateau. Energy-related carbon emissions added less than 1% in 2022 to a new high of more than 36.8 billion tons. The increase was less than expected, as renewables helped limit the impact of a global rise in coal and oil consumption. Comparatively, global emissions from energy gained by 6% in 2021.

China’s emissions, the IEA said, were broadly flat in 2022, as Covid-19 measures and declining construction activity led to weaker economic growth.

In 2020, China’s Xi announced plans for the world’s second-largest economy to strive for peak carbon emissions in 2030 and for carbon neutrality by 2060.

China’s energy transition sees ‘staggering’ progress on renewables — and a coal power boom

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Windar bags contract to manufacture EA3 TPs

Spanish suppliers in the manufacture of the secondary structure.

The secondary structure will be integrated in the Port of Avilés, prior to its shipment to the United Kingdom.

The manufacture of the 95 pieces will require more than 2,000,000 working hours over 23 months, creating 400 jobs.

Production will start next June and each of these pieces will have maximum dimensions of 20 metres in height, eight metres in diameter and 300 tons in weight.

EA3 will be located off the Norfolk coast and will have a capacity of 1.4GW. The site will be part of the East Anglia Hub, consisting of 714MW of installed capacity, for which Windar has previously built 42 jackets and 126 pin piles.

Iberdrola has signed an agreement with Windar Renovables for the construction of 95 transition pieces for the East Anglia Three (EA3) offshore wind farm in UK waters.

This is the largest order of this type of foundations to date and the production will be carried out mainly at the Asturian company’s facilities located in Avilés, in addition to the collaboration of a large number of

RWE signs German hydro supply contract

Windar Renovables executive president Orlando Alonso said: “The contract represents a significant step forward for our group in the offshore wind energy market that consolidates us as a world reference in the services performance from which Iberdrola will be the first beneficiary."

RWE has struck a 10-year hydropower-derived electricity supply contract with German chemical company SKW Piesteritz.

The deal will begin in 2025 when SKW Piesteritz will cover at least 40% of its electricity requirements with certified green electricity from hydropower.

Chief executive of SKW Piesteritz Petr Cingr said: "Electricity from hydropower is another important component of our green transformation and is a suitable addition to the future sustainable energy mix.

“Just by using this renewable energy, we will save the equivalent of around 70,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. With this electricity supply contract, we have taken an important step towards being able to continue to produce green products such as fertilisers and AdBlue® with the seal of trust and quality ‘Made in Germany’ in Lutherstadt Wittenberg.”

Allseas and Heerema bag Tennet platforms installation deal

Correll Joins

Asso.subsea on Vattenfall’s Danish Offshore Wind Pair

Offshore construction specialists Allseas and Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) have secured multi-year framework agreements with transmission grid operator TenneT to transport and install at least 14 supersized offshore wind converter stations in the Dutch and German parts of the North Sea.

Under the framework deal, which covers at least twenty-eight slots for fourteen jackets and the same number of topsides, Heerema has been awarded about 60% of the available slots, while Allseas has secured approximately 40% of the slots.

Final Offshore Wind Turbines Being Installed at Hollandse Kust Zuid

The installation of the last batch of wind turbines is now underway at the Hollandse Kust Zuid offshore wind farm in the Netherlands after the vessel Wind Osprey picked up the components in Rotterdam .

This weekend, Vattenfall said via social media that the components for the last turbines were being loaded onto Cadeler’s vessel. DHSS, which is supporting the commissioning of the turbines from its hub in IJmuiden, said via social media on 4 June that the last turbines will be installed over the “coming days”.

According to AIS data available online, Wind Osprey has already arrived at the project site, located some 20 kilometres off the Dutch province of Zuid-Holland.

The vessel transported the first turbine from Sif’s Maasvlakte 2 site in the Port of Rotterdam and installed it in mid-April last

The Dutch-based HMC will deploy its semisubmersible crane vessel Sleipnir as well as an owned floatover barge, and the Swissheadquartered Allseas will use its singlelift installation vessel Pioneering Spirit for the installation of the jackets and topsides. Boskalis will act as a subcontractor to Allseas, building one or two new transport vessels.

In April this year, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway and the UK committed to jointly install at least 120 GW of offshore wind power capacity by 2030. TenneT will account for about one-third of this volume.

The Correll Group – Cable Installation & Power Services Division has been awarded a contract by Asso.subsea to deliver the offshore pull-ins and termination & testing of 66 kV export and inter-array cables for the Vesterhav Nord and Syd offshore wind farms in Denmark.

The Vesterhav Nord and Syd, being developed by Vattenfall, consist of four export and 37 inter-array cables, for a total of more than 70 kilometres.

Asso.subsea was awarded a contract for the transportation, installation, protection, and commissioning of the 66 kV export and inter-array cables for the two offshore wind farms.

Hellenic Cables will deliver the interarray cables for the two offshore wind farms, as well as the associated accessories, under a contract secured with Vattenfall in September 2021.

Vesterhav Syd and Nord will comprise 41 Siemens Gamesa 8.4 MW wind turbines for a combined capacity of 344 MW.

year. By the end of February of this year, 100 out of the 140 Siemens Gamesa 11.0-200 DD wind turbines were in place at Hollandse Kust Zuid.

Once all the 140 wind turbines are installed and commissioned, which is expected this summer, the 1.5 GW Hollandse Kust Zuid will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm in operation.

The project, owned by Vattenfall, BASF, and Allianz, is also the world’s first subsidy-free offshore wind farm.

The offshore wind farms will both be located 10 kilometres off the West coast of Jutland near Thyborøn (Nord) and Søndervig (Syd) in water depths of approximately 20 metres.

When it comes to the Correll Group, the company recently was awarded another cable termination & testing contract by DEME Offshore for the first phase of the 3.6 GW Dogger Bank offshore wind farm in the UK.

Key renewables

A leading provider of industrial inspection, maintenance and repair services is set to further its commitment to the energy transition thanks to the launch of a new division which will further enhance its position in the renewables market.

IM&R leader TRAC Energy has a long history of successfully supporting offshore energy operations and has just unveiled the addition of a renewablesfocused talent acquisition arm.  Recruitment

New senior financial appointment to drive continued expansion at North Star

North Star, the UK’s leading offshore infrastructure support vessel operator, has appointed experienced financier, Lesley Dunn, to the newly created role of head of financial planning and analysis to lead the drive for continued growth.

Lesley, a chartered accountant, brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise including more than 25 years’ working in the corporate finance sector. Having established her career with Simmons & Company, now Piper Sandler, an investment bank and advisers to the energy industry, Lesley has participated in over 20 transactions with a combined value in excess of (US) $2bn.

She joins North Star after running her own financial consultancy business for seven years, and most recently acting as a senior specialist for engineering and consultancy business Vysus Group.

In her new role as head of financial planning and analysis, Lesley will be based in the group’s head office in Aberdeen and will work closely with the

Andy Cuniah Appointed as Chairman of the Energy Industries Council

Bechtel Limited's supply chain manager, Andy Cuniah, has been appointed as the new chairman of the Energy Industries Council, the world leading trade association for the energy industry. His appointment coincides with the EIC having been awarded last week the prestigious King's Award for Enterprise: International Trade.

specialist John Lamond has been brought on board to head up the new service in a role that will be pivotal in sourcing candidates for TRAC’s renewables projects and providing external clients with a professional recruitment solution.

John’s career spans almost two decades and he brings to the team a wealth of recruitment and business development experience across the engineering, construction, industrial and offshore sectors and this will be crucial to driving future growth.

John is joined by recruitment consultant Rebecca Wilson and the pair will build the team to keep pace with activity in Scotland and beyond.

The appointments continue a hiring strategy that has seen recent expansion of service delivery (project management, engineering, analytics and technology) and senior management teams.  Further appointments are planned to support new technical products and services and TRAC Energy is currently participating in the Fit4Offshore Renewables scheme.

Commenting on the launch, TRAC Energy Head of Renewables Joel Telling said: “We have a long-standing commitment to creating an expert team with a shared vision to deliver best-in-class renewables solutions.  Expansion of that team to

company’s chief financial officer and chief strategy officer. She will be charged with the management of lender and shareholder information requirements, including detailed financial modelling, currency and interest rate hedging and cash management, in addition to supporting long term business planning for newbuild capex approvals and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Lesley said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the team at North Star at a time when it is experiencing considerable growth across the renewable energy sector and looking to expand its hybridelectric offshore wind vessel fleet and services across Europe.

“Following a £140million worth of investment last year, including £50million from Scottish National Investment Bank, North Star is in a financially robust position to further progress its new build programme and seize new market opportunities.

“I’m looking forward to supporting the group as it continues to grow, expanding its reach across the sector, and helping North Star bring its first-class capabilities and innovative solutions to new and returning customers, backed by strong commercial acumen.”

In his new role, Andy Cuniah will work towards the EIC's goal of helping its member companies to export, diversify, and grow in a time of global Net Zero and transition conversation.

"I am excited at the opportunities ahead for the EIC," commented Mr Cuniah. "The EIC has always had a bold ambition, and I look forward to working with our member companies to deliver on our three pillars of Export, Diversify, and Grow. This is more important than ever in a time with a global Net Zero and transition conversation.”

“With offices in Rio, Houston, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and London busier than ever, with the roll out of more countries and areas in EICSupplyMap database of supply chain companies, the organisation is continuing to grow and represent the members at all levels and regions,” he continued. “I would like to extend my thanks to Hugh Saville, my predecessor, who has guided the EIC through COVID, lockdowns and the most recent global disruptions.”

EIC CEO Stuart Broadley commented on the appointment, "We're thrilled to welcome Andy Cuniah as the new Chairman of the EIC. His experience in the energy industry, combined with his passion

offer professional talent acquisition alongside project IM&R services is a natural extension and will make a compelling value proposition for our current and prospective clients.

“As well as finding and recruiting trained and experienced staff for projects we’re involved in ourselves, our services will be in demand across the wider industry as renewables projects, and the need for good people who can hit the ground running, continue to gather pace.”

Head of Talent Acquisition (Renewables) John Lamond added: “This is an exciting time to join the TRAC Energy renewables team and I look forward to using my years of experience to help unlock the potential of this new division.  TRAC Energy already has a range of highly transferrable products, services, experience, knowledge and skills which fit well within the renewables sector, so it makes sense to take all of that into the sphere of talent acquisition.

“In terms of our own team growth, I am also passionate about training and developing the next generation of recruiters and to working closely with training providers to gain the best candidates available for TRAC Renewables’ projects and the external market.  Our business will open up vital skill transfer opportunities for those seeking to begin new chapters in their energy sector careers.”

Fraser Dobbie, chief strategy officer of North Star, welcomed Lesley to the team.

“As we look to the future and begin to plan and invest in new fleet constructions, Lesley brings with her an exceptional track record for delivering results during critical growth periods including expansion, acquisition, investment and internationalisation.

“Lesley’s key skills in creating financial models to support decision making will be invaluable to the team as we plan our future in the energy industry.”

for our mission of promoting the UK's energy industry abroad, make him the ideal leader for our organisation."

Mr Broadley also expressed his gratitude for the service of outgoing Chairman Hugh Saville, stating, "We would like to extend our thanks to Hugh Saville for his exceptional leadership during his tenure as Chairman. Over the years, his support has been invaluable in helping the EIC advance the energy industry's supply chain interests and support members. His unwavering dedication has helped navigate disruptions and uncertainties, allowing EIC to continue its crucial work."

The EIC represents over 900 supply chain companies, globally, across the energy industry, and provides a range of services to its members, including market intelligence, export support, and networking opportunities. The EIC is continuing to expand its global presence to serve its members. Last week, the organisation announced that it had expanded its operations in Saudi Arabia with the appointment of the first Saudi-based membership manager.

www.normanbroadbent.com

We have a simple and straightforward objective: to help our clients manage and successfully drive change, mitigate risk, grow, and succeed.

4

Andrew Hockey to join the ECITB as CEO

Andrew Hockey will join the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) on 1 June as CEO.

The ECITB’s former Director of Operations, Andy Brown, has been Interim CEO since Chris Claydon’s departure earlier this year. Andy will retain Accounting Officer responsibilities of the industryled skills body until 5 July when Andrew will officially take over the helm.

Andrew comes with four decades of experience, latterly having held numerous directorships and CEO roles across the energy sector.

Andrew has worked in the UK and internationally with European majors Petrofina and ENI and with US and UK independents Triton, Monument and Lasmo. Until the end of 2021 Andrew was a Non-Executive Director at UK oil and gas exploration and production company, Fairfield Energy, which he co-founded in 2005 and helped to transition to a decommissioning company in 2016.

Most recently Andrew was CEO at IOG plc, a low carbon footprint gas developer and operator in the UK Southern North Sea.

5

Chris Smith, Partner International Power, Renewables & Utilities practice.

Chris assists investors, developers, asset owners and service providers with executive recruitment (C-suite / SVP / Director levels), leadership assessment and planning proactively for future challenges around human capital.

Prior to Norman Broadbent, Chris worked for a smaller boutique search firm and gained broad experience supporting clients across EMEA, the Americas and Asia Pacific within the following sub-sectors: utilities (water/gas/electricity), offshore/ onshore wind, nuclear, hydrogen, CCUS, waste to energy, conventional power, energy storage, EV infrastructure and industrial engineering.

He is a Non-Executive Director at Chariot, where he was instrumental in the board’s decision to change strategy from being an oil and gas explorer into a company pursuing transitional gas, power and green hydrogen projects across Africa.

Lynda Armstrong, Chair of the ECITB Board, said: “Andrew joins us at a time when there are critical challenges facing our industry.  Paramount is the need to ensure employers have the skilled people needed in the face of a tight labour market.  As an industry, we must do more to attract, develop and qualify new entrants while continuing to train our existing workforce.

“Having led major energy-sector organisations, Andrew understands the industry and the challenges in terms of skills shortages and training needs. I cannot think of a better individual to work with us and steer us to achieve the next phase of our mission and vision.

“I would like to thank Andy for taking on the reins as Interim CEO while the Board recruited the permanent replacement for Chris.”

Andrew Hockey said: “I am delighted to be taking on this role at this time. The engineering construction industry faces some major challenges – not least in securing the skills needed for the country to meet its Net Zero aspirations.

“There are huge infrastructure projects on the horizon including multiple carbon capture, hydrogen and fixed offshore wind projects in the design or planning stage, and floating offshore wind projects under discussion. The workforce as it stands right now would be unable to meet this demand.

“Whilst my immediate focus will be to deliver the ECITB Strategy 2023-2025 that was developed in partnership with industry, training providers and the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments – I will also be looking to the future.

Essar Oil (UK) Limited, the leading downstream energy company, has announced the appointment of Tony Fountain, managing partner at Essar Energy Transition, as an non-executive board director. Coming at a key time for Essar as it delivers on its investment plans of transitioning to be amongst the first low carbon refineries globally, Tony’s appointment will support the delivery of Essar Energy Transition (EET) ambition to lead the UK energy transition. EET will be investing US$3.6 billion in developing a range of low carbon energy transition projects over the next five years, of which US$2.4 billion will be invested at the Essar site in Ellesmere Port, between Liverpool and Manchester.

Calum MacPherson, has been named chief executive of

Inverness and Cromarty

Green Freeport

the

Firth

The Inverness-born, Calum MacPherson, has been named chief executive of the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport in what he describes as a “fantastic opportunity.”

The Aberdeen University law graduate worked in a tax practice in the granite city where he focused primarily on clients in the oil and gas sector but most recently, he has held various positions at the construction firm, Robertson Group.

The latest role Mr McPherson has held at Robertson Group was that of director of capital projects, taking up the job in November 2022. He has worked with this firm for almost 12 years.

Mr McPherson said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to lead an organisation that will play a central role in creating exciting careers for people across the Highlands and further afield, attracting large-scale international investment and playing a central role in delivering net-zero; and putting Inverness and the Cromarty Firth firmly on the renewables map globally. free article.

ICFGF Chair, Jim Smith, added: “As you would expect, the recruitment for a Chief Executive for ICFGF was an extensive selection process.

“We needed someone with the skillset and background to be able to hit the ground running.

“We are delighted to have attracted an individual of the calibre and experience that Calum brings.

“His knowledge will be a significant advantage allowing the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport to deliver on the ambitions outlined in our Green Freeport bid on job creation, inward investment, and decarbonisation.”

Tony brings extensive manufacturing, marketing, specialist trading and transformation experience. Having begun his career at BP, Tony’s roles have included CEO of Refining and Marketing at Reliance Industries Limited as well as a period as CEO of the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority – with oversight for nuclear decommissioning. Tony then went on to apply this extensive operational, regulatory, and health and safety experience in a range of board positions, also applying his governance experience to companies operating in complex environments over three continents. This includes roles as Chair of Sellafield UK and of Nayara Energy Limited and as a non-Executive Director at ATCO Group.

Prashant Ruia, Non-Executive Chairman of Essar, said: “We would like to welcome Tony to Essar’s Board. He brings over 40 years of operational, regulatory and executive experience that will enhance our business at this vital stage in our transition.

“We are committed to leading the energy transition and Tony’s appointment will play a crucial role in achieving this ambition.”

Tony Fountain, Non-Executive Director of Essar, said: “I am pleased to be invited to Essar’s Board. The Company is committed to be amongst the first low carbon refineries globally and to play a key role in the decarbonisation of the North West.

“The task at hand is a vital one, to secure the refinery’s performance today to enable it to act as a catalyst for the levelling-up investment the region needs and to deliver on Essar Energy Transition’s commitments.

6 Essar announces new energy transition appointment

Westwood Global Energy Group

www.westwoodenergy.com

‘Wider benefit’ in offshore wind decision-making

This insight is excerpted from the executive summary of the second in a series of thematic reports produced by Westwood and available to WindLogix subscribers as part of our enhanced coverage of commercial and investment themes in the offshore wind sector. In the report, we examine how government decision-making in relation to offshore wind has developed in recent years, particularly with regard to what we call ‘wider benefit’ criteria, which assesses developer proposals on the basis of a wide group of factors beyond a project’s basic viability or its price.

Lease and learn

Offshore wind as an industry has existed for some 30 years in various shapes and forms, and leasing and other decisionmaking processes have evolved considerably over that time. In general, decision-making processes have grown more sophisticated in response to two factors: 1) an increase in commercial interest in developing offshore wind farms; and 2) an increase in the general economic and ecological footprint of offshore wind, bringing with it increased political scrutiny.

These pressures have led governments across the world to design a variety of different structures and considerations for offshore wind decision-making. One of the more recent developments is the increased emphasis on ‘wider benefit’ criteria. In Europe, these developments have taken place somewhat gradually over the past 1520 years, while in more youthful markets, regulators are grappling with the challenges of establishing leasing systems that are effective, sophisticated, and serve a variety of stakeholders in a much shorter time span. This can pose challenges for market participants.

The great and the good Westwood has divided the ‘wider benefit’ element of offshore wind decision-making into several segments that address local investment, technological development and environmental considerations. Such requirements are primarily observed in offshore wind leasing assessment criteria (as this is where governments most often bring their rule making power to bear) but can also be incorporated into subsidy application systems and elsewhere.

The four aspects of ‘wider benefit’ identified are:

• Environmental / Ecological Benefits – Above and beyond usual industry commitments to best practice in construction, operation and decommissioning.

• Technological Benefits – Inclusion of a promising technology that is not yet economic by itself but whose development would benefit from inclusion in a commercial project, including technologies that enhance grid flexibility and integration.

• Supply Chain Benefits – Primarily focused on developing and supporting local industry, particularly with regard to skilled and manufacturing roles.

• Other Benefits – Touch on a range of potential societal initiatives, such as the establishment of facilities for use by the local community.

All for one and one for all

The inclusion of ‘wider benefit’ criteria in offshore wind decision-making presents both

opportunities and challenges for industry stakeholders. Supply chain stakeholders have often been amongst the most prominent advocates of these policies, in the belief that they will provide them with some competitive advantage in the market (especially European turbine OEMs, which have struggled in recent years).

Developers in particular face a double-edged sword from ‘wider benefit’ criteria. The increasing complexity of decision-making procedures increases the burden on bidding teams, more so as these requirements proliferate into multiple jurisdictions. On the other hand, the more diversified the scoring criteria in a bidding process, the greater the number of opportunities for a developer to differentiate itself, particularly if these criteria play a decisive role in bid scoring.

Opportunities and challenges are also apparent for supply chain stakeholders. Major European OEMs may, for instance, see the rise of local supply chain development provisions in European tenders as supportive of their market position as they face competition from Asian OEMs looking to expand into Europe. At the same time, the proliferation of local content criteria across the world may limit opportunities for suppliers looking to expand abroad.

So, the rise of ‘wider benefit’ criteria in government decision-making raises a number of questions for the offshore wind industry. Will developers adapt investment strategies to focus on specific regions or technologies where they can maximise their ‘wider benefit’? How will already challenged supply chains cope with the introduction of new requirements? Will investment in onshore facilities be affected, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, where many countries have pitched themselves as potential regional supply hubs?

Westwood Global Energy Group are specialist providers of detailed market intelligence for the offshore energy sector, covering; offshore rigs, production facilities, subsea equipment, subsea services, offshore marine and offshore renewables and power.

Author: Peter Lloyd-Williams, Senior Commercial Analyst – Offshore Wind, Westwood Global Energy Group

The business environment in the North East is changing at an ever increasing rate. Just Transition is on everyone’s mind and Net Zero could be a grand plan foolish strategy depending on whom you speak to.

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