Offshore renewables energy companies throughout the UK will get the chance of a share from a £7million support package from the government’s innovation agency.
Businesses developing innovative solutions for wave, tidal and offshore wind technologies will be given the chance to apply for support through the Technology Strategy Board’s Infrastructure for Offshore Renewables funding competition.
The scheme, launched at the European Ocean Energy Conference in Edinburgh today, will see funding allocated to collaborative research and development projects costing between £500,000 and £2million.
The project is focused on mainly industrial research projects, in which a business partner will generally attract up to 50% public funding for their project costs, rising to 60% for SMEs.
“This £7m is a real boost for low carbon innovation and will help businesses develop cutting edge technologies to support our offshore renewables industry,” said energy minister Greg Barker.
“Targeting funding in this way will accelerate growth in this sector, help cut the cost of producing clean green power and ultimately enable us to harness even more power from wind and marine devices out at sea.”
Electrical infrastructure, including high-voltage direct current (HDVC) technologies, support structures and sensors and monitoring are among the fields open for funding bids.
Further funding, up to £500,000, will also be provided by the Engineering and Physical Research Council to fund academic partners in projects focused on HVDC technologies.
Technology Strategy Board chief executive Iain Gray said: “An important aspect of our support for offshore renewables is to bring fresh insights from other sectors into the drive for a sustainable low-carbon future.”
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