As part of a £4m funding package from Innovate UK, ORE Catapult offers support vouchers worth £15k to SMEs looking to accelerate their journey to market through the Innovate UK Business Growth (previously Innovate UK EDGE) scheme.
SMEs can redeem these vouchers on services from ORE Catapult such as technology assessment, test planning, analysis and insight, and testing at our Levenmouth Demonstration Turbine – to fast-track commercialisation of their technology.
These are case studies on the companies that ORE Catapult worked alongside in 2022-23.
Plymouth-based SME, Frontier Technical, has developed and patented an innovative ballasted floating system enabling offshore surface and underwater construction. The system, MARLIN, provides floating foundation solutions for offshore energy in isolated marine locations. Intellectual Property Rights are protected in 14 countries and the technology is a registered trademark in the UK.
The principle is to use the system in water construction to negate the need for strengthened quaysides and heavy lift cranes. The first prototype was configured as a small ‘SPAR Buoy’, and it completed ballast and buoyancy control tests in summer 2022 at ORE Catapult’s National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth. The next phase is to transport the prototype to the South West, store it ready for fit out, and launch either from Cornwall or Devon.
As a prerequisite for deployment, ORE Catapult led a project funded through Innovate UK Business Growth, supported by PML Applications Ltd. This project helped Frontier Technical identify and apply for necessary deployment consents, licences, permissions, regulatory safety requirements, and identify transport costs and a storage location in the South West. The project was successfully completed in February 2023 and Frontier Technical await the outcome of the licence applications.
Ilosta (CrackMap) is an engineering-related technical and scientific consultancy developing a ground-breaking non-contact inspection technology, applicable to various sectors, including renewable energy. The Glasgow-based company enlisted the help of ORE Catapult to develop and deliver the Innovate UK Business Growth project to understand optimal flight paths, to feed into Ilosta’s CrackMap software.
Under the project, Ilosta and ORE Catapult collaborated to establish flight path test selection for optimal blade inspections using drones, and create the Test and Validation Plan.
ORE Catapult drone pilots conducted drone flight path testing on a suspended blade section at ORE Catapult’s National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth in outdoor conditions, to understand optimal flight paths and gain experience in a controlled environment, before transferring to a turbine. After successful testing, the project moved to a real-world environment, and tested on the energy generating Myres Hill Vestas turbine, which was powered down for the day – facilitated by the Energy Technology Centre.
Results from these test flight paths include image data from the drone flights, and a fact sheet report detailing the flight paths. Ilosta gained invaluable industrial application using blade section, turbine and real-life conditions.
As part of the Innovate UK Business Growth project, EnergyVue, an Aberdeen-based provider of real-time management and visualisation of critical asset data, joined forces with ORE Catapult to install EnergyVue’s data management suite on ORE Catapult’s Levenmouth Demonstration Turbine (LDT).
Initially, historic data was provided for EnergyVue’s familiarisation, followed by successful installation of EnergyVue EDGE software onsite at LDT. Data collected at LDT is streamed in real-time to EnergyVue’s VAULT software, where it is aggregated before being displayed on custom dashboards via their VIS web-based interface.
This live connection at LDT is a milestone for EnergyVue. A case study has been created, with images of the VIS dashboards, to document the project, and disseminate with stakeholders and interested parties.
ORE Catapult worked with Sky Tech Limited, a drone service provider based in East Lothian, to develop and deliver the Innovate UK Business Growth project that included an internal blade inspection and drone survey of the Levenmouth Demonstration Turbine (LDT).
Sky Tech’s crawler technology was used in a de-risking demonstration on a decommissioned section of blade at ORE Catapult’s Blyth facility, to gain experience in a controlled environment before transferring to the LDT in Scotland.
The final demonstration was performed over two days at LDT with facilitation from the Wood team. Firstly, the turbine was powered down to allow the crawler and handler to conduct internal inspection of the blade. On the following day, Sky Tech returned to conduct drone flights around the powered down turbine to capture thermal imaging around the blade root and rotor hub to investigate potential stressors.
As a result of the Innovate UK Business Growth project, Sky Tech was able to gain invaluable industrial application using blade section, turbine and real-life conditions.
DP Energy, a leading private renewable energy developer for 30 years, joined forces with ORE Catapult to deliver a ‘Green Hydrogen – Route to Market in Wales Scoping Study’. Supported by Regen, the work identified potential models of a green hydrogen value chain based around the region.
The project provided analysis of different value chain models, considering feedstock, production technologies, distribution models, storage options and requirements, existing hydrogen demand and potential future hydrogen markets, as well as competition from other fuels (low carbon and high carbon). Within each of these considerations, several key challenges of building a hydrogen value chain were identified.
DP Energy will use this report as a springboard to assess and design its hydrogen and ‘Power to X’ initiatives.
ORE Catapult worked with Linell Group to develop and deliver the Innovate UK LinellGen Performance Model Project.
In mid-2011, Linell Renewables, building on marine engineering expertise within the group, began development of the patented LinellGen vertical axis tidal turbine.
ORE Catapult previously supported Linell Group through the OPIN (Ocean Power Innovation Network) TAP (Technology Assessment Process), where recommendations for the next stage technology development pathway were presented.
A technical review of the LinellGen performance model for estimating tidal turbine power output and levelised cost of energy was carried out, followed by development work to update the performance calculations.
Key outputs of the study are an updated performance model which provides Linell Renewables with an improved method for assessing the impact of key design parameters on turbine performance, power output and levelised cost of energy.
To date, Linell Renewables has demonstrated their technology concept during a scale prototype tank test, and next steps are to continue this technology development.
For more information about eligibility and the application process, please contact us at Innovation Team
Find out more about Innovate UK Business Growth here: https://www.innovateukedge.ukri.org/
