The Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub has launched its third round of Flexible Funding to advance research into the opportunities and challenges of offshore wind, wave and tidal energy.
This third and final round of Flexible Funding will award a total of up to £850,000 to researchers at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Research Council Institutes and Centres, and Independent Research Organisations (IROs) approved by UKRI, to seed areas that complement existing research, fill gaps or add cross cutting activities to explore the transfer of research findings between sectors within ORE.
In this round of funding, the Supergen ORE Hub has additional funding available from the ORE Catapult’s Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FoW CoE). The FoW CoE was established to accelerate the commercialisation of floating offshore wind. The four key workstream areas the FoW CoE are working within are: Technical Development, Supply Chain and Operations, Development and Consent, and Delivering Net Zero.
The FoW CoE is delighted to be involved with the Supergen ORE Hub’s Flexible Funding scheme. This funding will allow projects to support the development of strategic relationships between academic partners and supply chain organisations, and the acceleration the commercialisation of floating offshore wind.
After two previous successful rounds, we’re pleased to be launching the third round of Supergen ORE Hub Flexible Funding. This funding will allow UK-based researchers to advance the offshore wind, wave and tidal energy sectors through fundamental and applied research. Additional industrial support from the ORE Catapult’s Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence strengthens academic-industry collaboration in floating offshore wind.
In 2019 and 2020 the Supergen ORE Hub awarded almost £2.2m to twenty-two projects in its first and second rounds of Flexible Funding. Funded projects included investigations into the recycling process of wind turbine blades, the development of underwater robotic fish for device inspection, and measuring the fatigue performance of tidal turbine blades. A full list of the previous awardees from 2019 and 2020 can be found online.
Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the Flexible Funding are open now, with a closing date of 5pm (GMT) – 11th January 2021. Applications should be submitted electronically through an online EOI form which can be found on the Supergen ORE Hub website. More details including the full call document are available on the Supergen ORE Hub Flexible Funding web pages.
Notes to editors
For more information about this news release, contact Supergen ORE Hub Communications and Engagement Officer, Kirsty Henderson on 01752 587881 or email kirsty.henderson@plymouth.ac.uk.
The Supergen ORE Hub
The Hub is a £9 Million Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funded project. Led by Prof. Deborah Greaves OBE, Head of the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics at the University of Plymouth, the Hub is a consortium of Universities researching Offshore Renewable Energy which also includes University of Aberdeen, University of Edinburgh, University of Exeter, University of Hull, University of Manchester, University of Oxford, University of Southampton, University of Strathclyde and University of Warwick.
The Supergen ORE Hub is one of several Hubs created by EPSRC to deliver sustained and coordinated research on Sustainable PowER GENeration and supply.
The Supergen ORE Hub brings together and builds on the work of the former Wind and Marine Supergen Hubs following consultation with the research community. The new hub looks for synergies between wind, wave and tidal technologies as well as building on current research in each area.
Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FoW CoE)
The Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FOW CoE) was established by the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult with the vision:
To establish an internationally recognised centre of excellence in floating offshore wind which will work towards reducing the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) from floating wind to a commercially manageable rate, cut back development time for FOW farms and develop opportunities for the local supply chain, driving innovation in manufacturing, installation and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) methodologies in floating wind.
The FOW CoE is a collaborative programme with industry, academic and stakeholder partners. The FOW CoE is primarily funded by these industry partners, with a further element of funding provided by other stakeholders including ORE Catapult. As the programme of work develops, the FOW CoE will continue to establish collaborations and formal partnerships with relevant academic and stakeholder partners across the broader offshore wind industry. In doing so, the FOW CoE aims to amplify its impact and additionality within the sector by ensuring that the risks and opportunities specific to floating offshore wind both in the short term and at a broader level.
In order to guide and coordinate its research activities, the FOW CoE has developed an initial core work programme across four workstreams:
- Technology development;
- Supply chain and operations;
- Development and consent; and
- Delivering Net Zero.
Further detail on the FOW CoE, its partners, workstreams, including an overview of the FOW CoE’s initial project activity within each workstream, can be accessed here.
