Catapult” Offshore Renewables Into Commercial Use

Review United Kingdom “Catapult” offshore renewables into commercial use

In February, the Technology Strategy Board, the UK’s is to receive £ 50 million in funding over five years (1 £ = approx. 1,18 €). However, this sum of government innovation agency, appointed a consortium 10 million £/year is expected to be augmented by to set up the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult centre, equivalent funds raised in the private sector, and by national and EU grants. The centre will also build with £ 50 million to be spent over five years. strong links with the European Marine Energy Centre, Wave Hub, and the recently announced marine energy park in the south west of England. It is hoped that he Technology Strategy Board (TSB) views businesses engaging with the centre will be able to “Catapults” as centres of excellence to bridge reduce the risk associated with creating profitable Tthe gap between business, academia, research products and services. The centre is expected to fo- and government. Ideally, they will become a powerful cus on areas such as creating a sustainable supply new element in the UK economy, helping businesses chain for the UK’s offshore wind sector and develop- develop relevant and exciting ideas in receptive and ing marine power capabilities to help UK business invigorating environments. The Offshore Renewable bring new products to market and export new tech- Energy Catapult centre is intended to coordinate nologies. Its headquarters will be established in knowledge and technology and six other centres, Glasgow, in the International Technology and some announced, some to come, include high-value Renewable Energy Zone (ITREZ), an initiative of manufacturing, cell therapy, satellite applications and Scottish Enterprise. An operational centre will be lo- the connected digital economy. cated close to the National Renewable Energy Centre The new Catapult will focus on technologies (Narec) in Northumberland. The Catapult is expected applicable to offshore wind, tidal and wave power and to open in the summer of 2012, and may also advise

22 Sun & Wind Energy 4/2012 the UK government on its renewable energy policies. Executive of Scottish Enterprise, said on behalf of The UK needs to generate 15 % of its energy from re- Ocean Energy Innovation that the Catapult is “excel- newable sources by 2020. lent news” – and she stressed the timing: “This new The offshore renewables consortium includes the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult comes at a criti- Carbon Trust, the Narec, and Ocean Energy Innovation, cal time in the evolution of this exciting new industry a new group that includes SSE, ScottishPower and will bring together the very best of the public and Renewables, the Energy Technology Partnership, the private sectors to work in partnership to further devel- Advanced Manufacturing Institute (Sheffield), the op a globally competitive renewable energy business Scottish European Green Energy Centre, the European environment, building on the UK’s academia, industry Marine Energy Centre, Scottish Renewables, Scottish excellence and existing competitive advantage.” Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. Industry people welcomed the initiative. Martin Investor show mixed reactions McAdam, CEO, Aquamarine Power, said: “The launch of the Catapult centre in Glasgow is tremendous news However, asked about investing in the Catapult, clean- for the UK’s wave, tidal and offshore wind industries. tech investors had mixed reactions. Patrick Sheehan, Jerry Biggs, CEO of Narec It will not only draw in significant public and private a partner at the Environmental Technologies Fund, Capital, welcomes the an- funding, but will bring industry and academia closer said: “It’s a good role for government as a sponsor of nouncement by the TSB to together – with the clear goal of commercialisation of longer term innovation. The offshore wind sector needs base the headquarters of the the offshore renewable sector.” McAdam also had innovation to improve reliability and reduce costs.” Catapult centre in Glasgow, high praise for Scotland: “Scotland has a very posi- Jerry Biggs, CEO of Narec Capital, stated: “Narec Capital with an operational centre in tive and joined up approach to energy research. The welcomes the announcement by the TSB to base the Northumberland. Scottish Energy Laboratory and the Energy Technology headquarters of the Catapult centre in Glasgow, with Photo: Narec Capital Partnership already enable companies to identify ap- an operational centre in Northumberland. We are now propriate research and test facilities and draw upon looking to build on our established alliances with the world-class research expertise. The Catapult signifi- consortium partners to create a bespoke funding port- cantly enhances this existing capability.” Jeremy folio that provides financial de-risking, capital raising Thake, Principal Engineer, Offshore Consulting divi- and a platform for growth via the commercial deploy- sion, IT Power Ltd., also welcomed the initiative but ment of emerging renewable technologies.” He add- expressed hope that the new centre will not duplicate ed: “Narec Capital is currently looking to bring together existing – and considerable – UK expertise in the ma- co-investors including regional public funds, institu- rine energy sector: “It should concentrate on genu- tional funds and private portfolios to deliver this com- inely innovative solutions to rolling out cost effective mercial response to the TSB’s initiative.” But William offshore wind, tidal and wave arrays. With £ 10 million Weil, Chief Investment Officer at LudgateEnvironmental a year in funding, the new centre will be in a good po- Fund, said: “I am sceptical because the cost reduction sition to coordinate and commission research into curve is not steep enough. It’s easier to cut costs in the technology innovations that will be needed to take supply chain than with mechanical devices such as forward this industry.” Dr. Lena Wilson, Chief wind turbines.” Another investor, who did not wish to be quoted, also expressed scepticism. On behalf of the consortium, Andrew Mill, CEO of Narec, commented: “The partnership between Carbon Trust, Narec and Ocean Energy Innovation is ideally placed to lead industrial innovation in offshore renewables. We will capitalise on the UK’s offshore engineering heritage and deployment expertise, and exploit our world leading technology development capabilities and infrastructure to effectively support growth businesses and a growing cluster of multinationals moving to the UK.” “Wind wars” make the headline

Very important, the Catapult centre comes at a time when renewables are under attack in Britain, espe- cially onshore wind. The media regularly focuses on subsidies and rising energy bills. Early in February, more than 100 Members of Parliament signed a letter of complaint about onshore wind, leading to a front- Not only for Aquamarine Power, whose Oyster wave page headline in The Guardian: “Tory backlash takes power technology captures energy in nearshore wind out of green boom”. Four pages followed the waves, the launch of the Catapult centre that will front-page story, under the headline: “Wind wars”. cover wind, wave and tidal energy is good news. Offshore technology, including wind, wave and Photo: Aquamarine Power tidal has not, to date, suffered similar attacks, as the

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the launch of the Offshore Catapult centre, commitment to offshore renewables. The offshore market

The global market for wind, tidal and wave is expected to exceed £ 64 billion by 2050. According to David Bott, Head of Innovation Programmes at the TSB, “The UK is in a strong position to take a signifi cant share of these global markets. David Bott, Head of Innovation Nick Medic, Head of The centre will first concentrate its Programmes at the Technology RenewableUK, says that efforts to help UK businesses gain Strategy Board, says that the UK is initiatives like the Catapult 12 % of the offshore wind market, in a strong position to take a signifi- centre demonstrate the UK’s the largest of the three markets. cant share of the global market for long-term commitment to The UK anticipates the market wind, tidal and wave. maintaining its global lead in share of both tidal and wave will be Photo: Technology Strategy Board offshore wind. approximately 15 %.” (See the full Photo: RenewableUK interview with David Bott at: http://tinyurl.com/7x9j9qs). The Department for Business, sector is less developed than onshore wind. In fact, Innovation and Skills oversees the TSB’s work, includ- the Offshore Catapult centre has actually been in the ing Catapult centres. Business Secretary Vince Cable planning for several years and may be seen as a re- said: “Our offshore renewable sector can compete on sponse to a highly positive 2010 report on the UK’s a global scale and has huge potential for growth. If we offshore resource by the Offshore Valuation Group, can harness that, we will generate billions of pounds an informal collaboration of several government de- for the economy whilst creating thousands of job op- partments, power companies and renewable energy portunities at the same time. It is vital we invest in re- companies. The main finding of the report: if 29 % of newable energy now to gain maximum benefits in the the UK’s offshore resource could be harnessed by future. In creating this centre we are taking the next 2050, the electricity equivalent of one billion barrels step to transforming the UK into a low carbon econo- of oil could be generated each year, with carbon diox- my.” Nick Medic, Director of Offshore Renewables at ide reductions of 1.1 billion t between 2010 and 2050 RenewableUK, the trade association for wind and ma- – and 145,000 new jobs. So the UK government, rine energy, stated: “RenewableUK warmly welcomes which has been heavily criticised for changes to the this announcement. Initiatives like this demonstrate feed-in tariff regime, appears to be signalling, with the UK’s long-term commitment to maintaining our global lead in offshore wind.” He added that building up a domestic supply chain is cru- cial. “The Catapult centre will help with that, as well as playing a role in ensuring that the wave and tidal sector grows from its current position, on the cusp of commercial viability, into a fully-fledged industry. From the USA, Neil Rondorf, VP Maritime, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and Chairman of the International Electrotechnical Commission’s committee for wave and tidal devices, stressed the need for cooperation: “In the US a similar discussion is ongoing with respect to offshore test centres for ocean renewable energy. Can they be co-located, cooperative and what is the right number? We cannot have too many because there is not enough capital investment and if the investment is spread too thin then there is not enough critical mass to move for- After having been heavily criticised for changes to the feed-in tariff regime, the UK govern- ward and push the development envelope.” ment shows its commitment to offshore renewables with the launch of the Offshore Catapult Elizabeth Block

centre. Further information: Photo: DONG Energy www.innovateuk.org

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