Up to GBP 2 million of funding to encourage innovation in the offshore wind sector and reduce development costs has been announced by the Scottish Government. The funding is targeted at supporting innovation across the sector to reduce long-term costs, improving health and safety standards, and widening educational opportunities within the industry.
Grants have been awarded to Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator, Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and, Energy Skills Partnership in support of offshore wind programmes they are delivering.
The GBP1.3 million programme the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult has announced is backed by GBP 445,000 funding from the Scottish Government, a further GBP 150,000 from industry partners including Fergusons Marine Engineering, CWind and WOOD, and match funding from ORE Catapult. The four projects will focus on next generation crew transfer and service vessels, a technology accelerator programme, investigating alternative communication and remote supervisory systems, and establishing a ‘Fit for Offshore’ business excellence programme to enable the Scottish supply chain to access offshore wind commercial opportunities.