Recipient organisationOffshore Renewable Energy CatapultSource-published name: Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
Funding£23.6M
PeriodJun 2008 — Mar 2019
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
The North East of England is building a specialised test centre for the giant gearboxes, drive trains, and generators that power offshore wind turbines. Currently, the UK lacks a dedicated facility large enough to test these massive components before they are installed at sea. This gap forces manufacturers to test equipment abroad or risk deploying untested hardware, slowing down the rollout of offshore wind farms. The National Wind Development Centre (FUJIN) will fill that gap by providing a purpose-built building with the infrastructure needed to run full-scale, real-world tests on these critical parts. If the centre succeeds, it will accelerate the deployment of large offshore wind devices in the UK market. This directly supports government initiatives like the Energy Technologies Institute’s Offshore Wind Programme, which aims to speed up the commercial use of new turbine technology. The facility will also help the North East attract major corporate investment—similar to the deal already secured with Clipper Wind Power—and strengthen the local supply chain for manufacturing and R&D. On a national level, faster deployment of reliable offshore wind technology contributes to energy security and the UK’s climate change targets. The project is applied, not fundamental science: it builds a physical test bed to solve a concrete industrial bottleneck.
View original technical description
This project seeks to address a gap in the renewable energy market for the testing of large scale devices such as offshore wind gear boxes, drive trains and generators. It will assist the North East in continuing to attract major corporate investment in the renewable energy market and complement significant manufacturing and R&D opportunities in the local supply chain. This project will support the design, management and build of a specialised building to house large scale test infrastructure for the renewable energy market; particularly offshore wind energy. Such a facility will help accelerate major UK Government initiatives such as the Energy Technologies Institute's (Ell) Offshore Wind Programme that will invest in world class test infrastructure for the rapid deployment of large scale devices in the UK market. Through formal discussions with the ETI, One NorthEast and NaREC have received a commitment in principle that capital funding will be available to support the procurement of specialised equipment to be utilised in this facility. The investment will assist in the continued success of NaREC and its ability to offer the energy industry world-class leading edge facilities that benefit both industry and local academia. There is considerable interest from major manufacturers to utilise such a facility and replicate investment into the North East such as that secured through Clipper Wind Power. Further, it will truly establish the North East (UK) as a major hub for offshore wind technology development in the global market place and contribute significantly to the overall security of supply and climate change agenda in relation to energy.
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