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Welcome to our latest newsletter
Offshore wind must continue to focus heavily on reducing cost of energy and keeping workers safe. It also needs to fully grasp the opportunity to move from niche markets to establish a much more global footprint.
It is true that Europe offers a globally significant combination of shallow waters, high winds and supportive regulatory environment, but we see many other parts of the world that should be looking hard at offshore wind now, rather than following in a few years’ time. The way costs are falling and the ability to deliver new, low carbon generation quickly at a large-scale demand attention from those seeking to establish a viable future energy mix. Talk to us about what we are doing to support this acceleration.
Bruce Valpy
Managing Director
BVG Associates
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Scottish Western Isles - the economic impact of large-scale onshore wind energy development
Our report on the economic benefits of wind farm development in the Western Isles is now available to download. The report, commissioned by EDF was written in collaboration with Steve Westbrook from the University of the Highlands and Islands.
This work builds on our previous study into the UK content of Isle of Lewis wind farms and uses our new methodology described in last month’s white paper. The study outlines the positive economic impacts, including the number of jobs, as well as the impacts of community payments and ownership. Our lead on this report was Alun Roberts.
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WindEurope
We’re delighted to have become members of WindEurope, the voice of the wind industry which is actively promoting wind power in Europe and worldwide. WindEurope has over 500 members, active in over 50 countries, including wind turbine manufacturers with a leading share of the world wind power market, plus component suppliers, research institutes, national wind and renewables associations, developers, contractors, electricity providers, finance and insurance companies, and consultants. We’re looking forward to playing a strong role at the joint WindEurope/Renewable UK Offshore Wind Energy event in June.
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What will the French elections mean for offshore wind?
Our French market lead, Margaux Delahaie recently attended the 8th annual conference of the Renewable Energy Union (SER). One of the highlights of the conference was a debate amongst the main political parties on their energy policies and what the upcoming Presidential election could mean for renewable energy.
Encouragingly, all the parties represented continue to support renewable energy to some degree although there were considerable differences in emphasis.
You can read Margaux’s view on the debate in her latest blog.
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Norwegian companies: Oil and gas diversification into offshore wind
We are running offshore wind workshops and expert meetings in Stavanger on 7 March, Haugesund 8 March and Bergen 9 and 10 March followed by further workshops in Alesund, Kristiansand and Oslo at the end of March and the start of April. These will feature Alan Duncan discussing how oil & gas companies can diversify into offshore wind. The event includes one-to-one meetings as well as a workshop and is organised by Norwegian Energy Partners (NORWEP), the new organisation formed by the merger of Norwegian Oil and Gas Partners (INTSOK) and Norwegian Renewable Energy Partners (IntPow).
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Helping grow a local supply chain for offshore wind
Our latest published case study is about our work with Green Port Hull through the Green Port Growth Programme’s Business Support strand, funded by the UK Government’s Regional Growth Fund.
Hull is excellently located to serve offshore wind projects in the European North Sea. It is the home of Siemens’ new blade manufacturing facility and is fast becoming a hub for a range of other suppliers.
Working closely with the Green Port Hull team, we developed and delivered a series of workshops covering key topics in offshore wind. Through these workshops, we shared expertise in the offshore wind industry, including ‘real world’ insight and practical advice for attendees. The workshops covered different types of renewable energy, how to market your business in renewable energy and details of the offshore wind supply chain. By attending the workshops and getting other help from Green Port Hull, local businesses across a number of sectors have been able to understand, plan and execute effective activity to win offshore wind business.
We have also helped dozens of companies on an individual level through face-to-face audits and support. We provided tailored recommendations of how companies could target their best opportunities in offshore wind and wider renewables sector.
We also continue to support companies with market and supply chain intelligence every quarter by providing links to supply chain registration sites and providing status updates on upcoming offshore wind projects located in the region.
You can read the full case study on our website.
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Innovation in infrastructure systems call Round 2- Innovate UK - March 22 deadline
Registrations for the second round of Innovate UK’s ‘Innovation in infrastructure systems’ with total funding of £15million, must be made by Midday (GMT) 15 March. Completed applications have to be submitted a week later, Midday 22 March.
Affordable, sustainable and secure energy is one of four focus areas and applications for projects with total costs of £25,000 to £5 million are expected.
A recording of a briefing event for applicants is on this link, but in summary, to be eligible you must:
- be a UK-based business of any size
- carry out most of your project in the UK
- work in collaboration (at least 2 organisations must incur costs and claim the grant) if your total project costs are more than £100,000
- include at least one UK-based SME
Full details can be found on the UK Government’s website.
Good projects need to include strong, up-to-date awareness of market activity, robust focus on cost of energy impact and consideration of the evolving route to market, all of which we provide to a range of clients, often as part of a publicaly funded project. If you are interested in involving us in your project, including helping you to write a good bid, please email Mike Blanch.
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Innovation and cost reduction in offshore wind
At the recent Offshore Wind Journal conference, Kate Freeman spoke on Innovation and cost reduction in offshore wind. Kate told the conference about the importance of minimising elapsed time in reducing installation costs due to the relatively high cost of servicing finance between paying for components and starting to receive income from generation.
You can download Kate’s presentation from our website.
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Offshore renewables workshop
There are only a few weeks left to book on NOF Energy/BVGA offshore renewables workshop on 4 April as part of NOF Energy’s diversification support programme.
This will cover a detailed overview of the offshore wind market, identification of the key players in the supply chain and how to win business in the offshore wind market. In the afternoon, facilitated breakout sessions will be organised with leading offshore wind businesses and Energi Coast companies.
You can find out more on our website.
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