Leading technology centres create network to drive innovation in floating offshore wind

The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and NZTC have today announced the start of a new programme, the INTOG Innovation Network, focusing on maximising the impact of commercial, pilot scale, innovative, floating wind projects through the INTOG (Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas) leasing process.This new network will work under the existing Energy Transition Alliance between ORE Catapult and NZTC.The INTOG leasing round, managed by Crown Estate Scotland, is designed both to use floating offshore wind to directly reduce emissions from oil and gas production (TOG), and to develop a series of agreements for commercial pilot scale (less than 100MW) innovation projects (IN).

The Innovation Network focuses purely on the innovation element of the INTOG leasing round, facilitating research, development, and engagement scopes for the five projects allocated exclusivity agreements.

The priorities of this work will include:

Building collaborative relationships between projects and identifying common innovation and technology challenges and opportunities.
Providing a single point of contact for all five innovation projects to facilitate engagement and potential collaborations with wider FOW Industry.
Sharing lessons learned to inform future projects.
Adopting a common approach on topics where there are agreed synergies or benefits for parties.
Exploring opportunities to test and demonstrate technologies for the intended purposes of increasing technology readiness levels and de-risking technologies ready for deployment.

Andy Macdonald, Director of Development & Operations, ORE Catapult said: “This new network creates a unique forum to help support the industry leading innovations that these projects are designed to deliver. Coming ahead of the build out of the large scale ScotWind sites, these projects offer a fantastic opportunity for industry to learn more about how to overcome the challenges, and maximise the potential, of new floating wind technology.”

Graeme Rogerson, Head of Net Zero Technology, NZTC, said: “Maximising the impact and value to industry of these innovation projects is crucial in realising the future ambitions for UK floating wind and the value to our supply chain and port infrastructure. We’re delighted to play such a pivotal role in driving this collaboration and shaping the future of offshore wind.”

The Energy Transition Alliance is a ground-breaking collaboration between ORE Catapult and the Net Zero Technology Centre, which aims to support decarbonisation of the offshore energy sector and accelerate the UK’s transition to net zero. This includes working together on pathways to support the North Sea’s sustainable transition from oil and gas to a position that aligns with the drive towards Net Zero.