Offshore Floating Wind Sector - Opportunities to Tender

Marine-i welcomes the announcement of three important new tender opportunities in the floating offshore wind energy sector.

The three new tenders announced by the Carbon Trust are designed to help improve critical technologies in the floating wind energy sector. The Carbon Trust is inviting proposals from innovative marine companies to tackle three key development areas.

The Carbon Trust is an independent, expert partner of leading organisations around the world, helping them contribute to and benefit from a more sustainable future through carbon reduction, resource efficiency strategies and commercialising low carbon technologies.

Floating wind presents an opportunity to harness consistent strong wind resource in deep water locations, unlocking new markets for offshore wind. However, a number of novel challenges will need to be addressed in order to deploy floating wind turbines at commercial scale. These projects will aim to assess these challenges and identify future innovation priorities for the sector.

The first tender is to identify and evaluate innovative mooring systems and anchoring solutions. https://www.carbontrust.com/about-us/tenders/floating-wind-jip-mooring-systems-in-challenging-environments-msc/

The second tender requires companies to investigate the drivers behind tow-to-port maintenance strategies for floating wind farms. https://www.carbontrust.com/about-us/tenders/floating-wind-jip-tow-to-port-maintenance-ttp/

The third tender is to assess the feasibility and technology for heavy lift offshore operations at a floating wind farm. https://www.carbontrust.com/about-us/tenders/floating-wind-jip-heavy-lift-offshore-maintenance-hlm/

The Carbon Trust believes that floating wind presents an opportunity to harness strong wind resource in deep water locations, unlocking new markets for offshore wind. However, a number of novel challenges will need to be addressed in order to deploy floating wind turbines at commercial scale. These projects will aim to assess these challenges and identify future innovation priorities for the sector.

Commenting on the announcement, Matt Hodson, Marine Hub Operations Director at Cornwall Development Company, said: “This is a superb opportunity for marine technology companies to get support in solving some of the key challenges facing the offshore floating wind energy sector. This is a vital industry for the future, and one where Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly can play a leading role. Congratulations to the Carbon Trust for this excellent initiative and we would urge local marine businesses to take advantage of this opportunity.” Interested companies must apply by 21^st February for any of the three tenders, full details of which can be seen at: www.carbontrust.com/about-us/tenders/    

Part funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Marine-i is a £9.3m collaboration between the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, The Cornwall College Group, Cornwall Marine Network, Cornwall Development Company and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. It brings together key infrastructure and expertise to enable technology innovation in the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly’s marine sector, which has been identified as an area of high growth potential by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership. Full details can be seen at www.marine-i.co.uk