ORE Catapult is the UK’s leading technology innovation and research centre for offshore renewable energy, with a primary mission to accelerate the creation and growth of UK companies.
A joint initiative from Royce and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (ORE), the workshop is aimed at materials technologists and associated roles in materials engineering and processing, and seeks to educate and explore solutions to the issue of leading edge erosion in offshore wind turbines.
The workshop will play an important role in stimulating advances in engineered materials and will conclude with a presentation on the opportunity to access Catapult facilities for fast-tracking high TRL solutions through rain erosion testing, together with access to Royce surface analysis capabilities to assess surface degradation.
About the challenge
Offshore wind energy currently enjoys a rapidly expanding presence as the UK seeks to provide renewable, low carbon electricity generation; a necessary step required to combat climate change. The UK government has set an ambitious target of 40 GW of installed offshore Wind Capacity by 2030, up from a current base of 11 GW.
The problem of leading edge erosion is significant – over the 25 plus years of operational lifetime of modern offshore wind turbines, the operations and maintenance costs are significant, and will escalate in the future as more turbines are deployed to meet our renewable energy goals.
During the workshop we’ll explore the significant opportunity for the development of more durable and effective leading edge materials which are urgently required to minimise costs, and thereby strengthen the case for further offshore wind development.
June 24 2021
