Completed Engineering Materials & Manufacturing

NaREC Site Infrastructure

Funder InnovateUK (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult Source-published name: Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
Funding £2.5M
Period Jan 2011 — Apr 2013

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

Workers are removing steel columns and digging up old foundations at a site in Blyth to make room for a new blade testing facility for wind turbines. The National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) is building four large-scale industrial testing facilities on the site. Before those facilities can operate, the ground itself needs to be cleared and prepared. This infrastructure project handles that groundwork—removing obstacles and ensuring the site can support the heavy equipment and services the testing halls will require. Without this preparation, the capital investment in the testing facilities themselves would be wasted. If the project succeeds, the completed testing facilities will allow companies to develop and prototype new wind turbine designs at industrial scale. That activity is expected to boost research and development in the region, strengthen the local supply chain, and position Narec to influence the broader renewable energy market. The immediate impact is on industrial infrastructure—a concrete foundation for future energy technology—rather than on anything consumers will see directly.

View original technical description
Narec is in the process of developing four large scale industrial testing facilities at the Blyth site. Once the facilities are operational, they will help to provide a significant boost to research and development, design and prototype development activity in the region, which will create a long-term impact on the local supply chain and servicing companies. It is anticipated that Narec will be at the forefront of the increased market resulting from this activity ,which will place Narec in a prime position to influence market development and provide research and development opportunities to both new and established players in the renewable energy market. The Narec Site Infrastructure project, in conjunction with the Innovation Facilities Infrastructure project, has been specifically designed to improve the overall infrastructure of the main Narec site to ensure the capital investment facilities are fully realised and are entirely serviceable. More specifically, work involved in the Narec Site Infrastructure project has focussed on the removal of steel columns and grubbing up foundations to prepare a designated site for future development as part of the Blade Test Facility project

View the original record at the funder ↗

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Original classification

Centres

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.