Research Programmes

Stay Ashore!

A £9 million R&D programme in partnership with GE Renewable Energy, to be implemented over the next four years to improve reliability, drive down operating costs and improve the safety of offshore wind operations. The agreement will provide new digital and service solutions for operating and maintaining wind turbines remotely.

This collaboration will increase innovation and growth opportunities for the UK supply chain, with the research programme built on three pillars:

• Reliability by design, which is primarily focused on the validation of key wind turbine components.
• Enabling full remote operability and troubleshooting of the turbines through advanced digital functionality to reduce the need to go offshore for unplanned events.
• Use of robotics for planned maintenance events, specifically repetitive tasks, inspection activities as well as activities in areas that are difficult to access.

This partnership aims to reduce further the operating costs of offshore wind, which will benefit electricity consumers. It is part of GE’s broader offshore wind strategy for the UK – collaborating with local partners to drive down the cost of electricity and improve the reliability of offshore wind projects.

Ongoing collaboration between GE Renewable Energy and ORE Catapult will launch focused technology innovation challenges to UK SMEs (small to medium enterprises) and the academic community, covering the areas of robotics, blade and tower inspections, and repair processes.