NaREC & North East England - enabling U.K. offshore wind.

The UK government has set a target of generating 20% of the total electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and has instigated 3 rounds of offshore wind farm development to help achieve this target.  The development and installation of offshore wind turbines around the UK is a market predicted to be worth up to £40billion by 2020.  The opportunity presented by the offshore wind market is one of the biggest economic development opportunities in the UK.  It is estimated by Central Government that 22,500 new manufacturing jobs will be created in this sector alone and many of these could be in the North East of England.

The North East has significant advantages over the rest of the UK as: 

• It has significant offshore and heavy engineering experience from the marine and oil & gas sectors.    
• It already has the beginnings of an offshore renewable industry with recent success, through the regional development agency ONE, in attracting major players in the offshore wind sector to the region.    
• It is ideally located, with industrial infrastructure on the banks of the regions major rivers such as the Blyth, Tyne, Wear and Tees, to support the main round 3 offshore sites located in the North Sea.

A key contributor and enabler in this sector is NaREC who provide technology support to both emerging renewable companies and more established industry partners, by providing access to world class testing facilities, along with experienced specialists and engineering support.  To further enhance the regions claim to be the centre of excellence for R+D, testing, design and manufacture of these massive, complex offshore wind turbines, NaREC is about to embark on a project to build the world’s largest drive train test facility.

Sponsorship for the drive train project is actively being negotiated with regional and national organisations, and is central to NaREC’s plans to offer a complete offshore wind turbine design and development facility for the fledgling offshore wind industry.  This project will have very close links with NaREC’s other wind related activities; indeed, it will be co-located with the existing 70m blade test facility (another world first) and will share some staff resources.  It will add value to this existing facility by providing the other main testing capability needed to thoroughly test and validate offshore wind turbine designs.  Understanding and improving the design of offshore turbines to increase their availability and reliability are key, if their deployment offshore is to be a success and for them to deliver in terms of security of energy supply.

Initial plans for the facility are now well underway with plans for commissioning and testing the first drive train in February 2010.  Recruitment for the staff and experts necessary to run the facility has just been started through the local press and hopes are high that we will be able to tap into the expertise and experience present in the region.  Working with the people of Blyth we hope their continued support will enable us to deliver something that will not only be an asset locally, by regenerating the local area and economy, but will eventually become a source of national pride.