Solve the problem of accessing offshore wind farms and you could land a £2 billion market opportunity.
Offshore wind farms are in the right places to capture wind resource but challenging to access for operations and maintenance. So there is a need for solutions to transporting and transferring personnel and equipment to turbines in offshore sites around the UK.
Solve the problem of accessing offshore wind farms and you could land a £2 billion market opportunity.
The Offshore Wind Accelerator Access Competition forms part of the Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA), a collaborative R&D project between the Carbon Trust and eight of the leading international offshore wind farm developers.
Their goal is to develop technologies to drive down the cost of offshore wind, focusing on four research areas: Foundations, Wake Effects, Electrical Systems, and the focus for this competition, Access.
The OWA Access research area aims to challenge the traditional approach to transferring personnel and equipment from vessels to turbines for carrying out operations and maintenance (O&M) activities. This will become increasingly important as wind farms are developed further from shore in harsher sea conditions.
The open competition will identify and develop new access systems to dramatically improve the availability of turbines and the safety of people during the transfer to turbines.
Competition entries can address one or more of the access challenges identified, i.e.
* Transfer systems - to safely transfer personnel and equipment from vessels to turbines
* Vessels - to carry personnel and equipment to the turbines
* Launch and recovery systems - to allow permanent platforms and motherships housing maintenance crews to launch and recover the vessels to carry personnel to turbines
This is potentially a £2 billion global market, so the winning ideas will have access to a lucrative business opportunity. Equally important, if you are successful you will help make offshore wind energy a commercial reality.
Being an open call for ideas you do not need to be involved in offshore wind nor do the winning ideas need to be new; they could be an adaptation of existing technology that you are currently working on.
Successful applicants will receive up to £100k to develop their concept, and potentially further funding to take the concept to full-scale demonstration.
Winners will also engage with eight of the World's leading offshore wind developers, who will be needing access systems over the coming decade.
Closing date for applications is 26th November 2010. For full details and to register for the Offshore Wind Accelerator Access Project, follow the link:
http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/emerging-technologies/current-focus-areas/offshore-wind/pages/offshore-wind-access-challenge.aspx?utm_source=SMI&utm_medium=PARTNERSHIP&utm_content=GLOBAL&utm_campaign=OWA
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