Our mission is to accelerate the creation and growth of UK companies in the offshore renewable energy sector, using our unique facilities and research and engineering capabilities to bring together industry and academia to drive innovation and commercialisation in renewable energy. We do this by establishing global leadership, attracting investment, and supporting growth, productivity and job creation. The growth in offshore wind, in particular, has been enabled by the extraordinary cost reduction that the industry has delivered in recent years, largely driven by the speed of technology innovation.
To deliver a low-carbon future and meet the UK’s net-zero target by 2050 will require at least 75GW of installed offshore wind capacity – that’s 10 times what we have installed today. The UK is going to need new innovative solutions and approaches to challenges, such as integrating renewable energy into the grid, in order to deliver that volume of production.
We’re organising our activities around key areas for future innovation and developing local Centres of Excellence that will support the transformation of our coastal communities. These areas include:
These Centres of Excellence will champion innovation in robotics, autonomous systems, big data and artificial intelligence, balance of plant – especially foundations – and next-generation technologies.
We’re also delivering business improvement programmes such as our national and regional Launch Academies, designed to support UK businesses looking to capitalise on the opportunities offered by the growth in offshore renewables around the world.
Our work is paving the way for further cost reduction and growth in installed capacity, all vital in tackling global climate change and decarbonising our energy needs.