As offshore wind pushes into deeper waters and the supporting fleet strives to decarbonise, limitations are encountered in the charging capacity of electrically-powered marine vessels (marine EVs) that seek to support construction and operations. The option to recharge in the field therefore becomes attractive, both in terms of extending range, and also increasing the workability of marine EVs that might otherwise be confined to relatively short transits to and from shore. This project seeks to trial and advance to commercialisation an innovative method of achieving recharging offshore, the PALM Charger. Based on Apollo's Pull and Lock Marine connection system, the PALM Charger allows a vessel to hook up to an offshore mounted charging point in a single winching operation from its back deck. Minimal bespoke outfitting is needed, no active control systems are used and there is no personnel transfer. The connection operation is swift and rugged. The core infrastructure trials will comprise a 14-day offshore deployment of a test rig onto a moored platform off Orkney. A marine vessel will make repeated connections and disconnections using the prototype PALM Charger system in a range of seastates. Project objectives include: * Demonstrating the mechanical connection system in an offshore environment * Demonstrating the functionality of the electrical connection system * Building understanding of the vessel handling operations * Accumulating reliability data on the system operation * Building understanding of the regulatory and certification context * Refining the commercial design * Developing a marketing plan and business case. Apollo will provide overall project management and engineering, providing their prototype PALM Charger system and evolving the marketing plan and design development. The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) will lead the testing operations, working with Leask Marine to set up a test rig and undertake vessel connection/ disconnection operations. As a marine contractor, Leask Marine represent a group of potential future customers, informing the marine operational practicalities and market interest. The outputs of the project will thus advance conversations with developers who are open to innovations, while requiring evidence of reliability to support bankability decisions. While this project focuses on UK offshore wind as a use case, the international expansion of the market will present export opportunities. There are also numerous other sectors where offshore charging of marine EVs would have an application.

In the SEASTAR project, coordinator Nova Innovation (Nova) leads a world-class team to deliver a 4MW array of 16 tidal stream turbines at the EMEC Fall of Warness tidal site in Orkney - the world’s first large tidal farm, which will contain more tidal turbines than are currently deployed worldwide. SEASTAR will utilise Nova's well-proven M100D turbine, developed in partnership with project partner SKF - the world’s leading supplier of rotating equipment. The project builds on the success of Nova's six-turbine Shetland Tidal Array - the world's first offshore tidal array - which was delivered under the H2020 EnFAIT project by a team including SEASTAR partners SKF and Wood. They are joined in SEASTAR by DLA Piper, the leading global law firm in renewable energy, and by specialists in sustainability, insurance, consenting, communication, engineering and offshore operations. SEASTAR will demonstrate for the first time the industrial systems, manufacturing and operational techniques required to efficiently deliver a large tidal farm. It will generate and share transferable knowledge on key consenting risks, de-risking future large arrays globally. And it will improve the bankability of tidal energy by cutting costs, proving performance, and enhancing the insurability of large tidal farms. SEASTAR represents a step change for tidal energy. Volume industrial manufacturing, operation and maintenance techniques will be applied for the first time to the full lifecycle of a tidal farm, from design, procurement, production, shipping, marshalling, deployment, commissioning, operation and decommissioning. The 16-turbine farm provides unique opportunities to address critical environmental evidence gaps and develop the cost-effective, reliable monitoring solutions at scale required to accelerate permitting and remove barriers for future large tidal farms.

Awaiting Public Project Summary

The aim of the Instream Tidal Energy Research (InTER) project is to design, build and test a 100 kW tidal energy device featuring two vertical axis turbines on a floating research platform. The project will develop a new platform technology that will enable Instream Energy Systems (Instream) to make the step from inland hydrokinetics and access tidal resources in the UK. Deployment and system testing of the prototype will take place in an appropriate marine environment with a simulated grid interface. Instream's technology aims to overcome many of the existing challenges in the tidal sector including high installation costs and access to shallow water resources to achieve lower-risk, cost-effective commercial projects. The InTER project builds on Instream and IT Power’s (ITP) recent platform concept design work and Instream’s existing rotor design. The resulting 'Turbine Deployment Unit' (TDU) will support 2 rotors. The key phases of the project will include, numerical and physical modelling, design, fabrication, assembly, deployment, commissioning, demonstration, and recovery. The consortium assembled has the expertise necessary to internally carry out the project phases.