Technology Strategy Board Launches “Infrastructure for Offshore Renewables” Competition

The Technology Strategy Board launches its “Infrastructure for offshore renewables” competition.

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £7m in collaborative R&D projects to accelerate the development of innovative infrastructure technologies for the offshore wind, wave and tidal stream industries, to help reduce the cost of electricity generation. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will provide up to a further £500k to fund academic partners in projects focused on HVDC technologies.

The aim of this competition is to support innovation that helps to establish and develop supply chains in offshore renewables, and to encourage engagement with companies from outside the offshore renewables sector that have specific applicable expertise.

The competition covers three themes related to balance of plant infrastructure, which are:

- electrical infrastructure, including high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technologies

- support structures; and

- sensors and monitoring.

Projects can relate to any aspect of the lifecycle of a wind, wave or tidal stream farm from development through design and construction, to ongoing operations and maintenance.

This is a two-stage competition that opens for applicants on 2 December 2013. The deadline for expressions of interest is at noon on 5 February 2014. A webinar briefing event for potential applicants will be held on 6 December 2013.

An event to facilitate consortium building for this competition will be held in London on 9 December 2013.