Enriching winds blow off the coast
Big opportunities are dawning in sustainable technology for North East companies. Andrew Mill explains here how energy from offshore wind is moving some of the opportunities. And John Barton stresses the importance of having the region at the forefront of the UK’s low-carbon agenda.
NAREC is increasingly being recognised as the UK’s national centre dedicated to speeding the development of renewable generation technologies using offshore wind, wave, tidal and distributed energy systems – and enabling the integration of new devices into the electrical network.
Working with established businesses, start-ups and academic spin-outs, NaREC encourages investment by helping existing businesses and those looking to relocate to realise energy market opportunities here in North East England.
The company has grown 30% over the last year and now has more than 100 employees. A significant majority are engineers with mechanical or electrical specialisms.
Much of the growth has come through offshore renewables from new commercial testing and development contracts, and from funding wins for research and supply chain acceleration projects.
Industry estimates that offshore wind will permanently employ tens of thousands in the manufacture, construction and long-term operations - and maintenance jobs for farms outlined in the Government’s 2020 targets.
North East England is ideally placed to capitalise on offshore wind with more than 800 turbines, potentially, to be deployed in the Dogger Bank site alone, 150km off the North East coast.
Two other North Sea sites announced could easily be supplied and serviced from NaREC’s engineering bases on the banks of the rivers Blyth, Tyne, Wear and Tees.
NaREC’s unique technology development and testing facility, and its regional infrastructure and personnel, are a huge draw to project developers looking to mitigate the commercial and operational risk in deploying large-scale offshore renewable devices.
Now NaREC plans to expand its current blade test facility in Blyth. It is developing the world's largest offshore wind drive train test facility rated at 15MW. This should be followed by development of on and offshore test sites to speed deployment and manufacture of next-generation offshore wind turbine technology.
Through the Northern Wind Innovation Programme, funded through the Northern Way partnership over the next two years, NaREC is looking to bring together industrial and technological capacity for Offshore Wind energy from across the North.
NaREC has also recently announced a collaborative training partnership with Northumberland College and Mainstream Renewable Power, backed by regional development agency One North East.
This proposes to erect the country’s first wind turbine training tower in Blyth, as the next step in developing a UK Centre for Wind Technician Skills.
At this time of great change in the way we generate and use electricity, NaREC is working with the sector to meet demands.
Recent work on developing and testing of lightning protection systems for the aerospace and wind generation markets is an example of how NaREC can adapt its facilities and apply its expertise on electrical issues across a number of sectors.
Locally, with the rising price of fossil fuels and the introduction of carbon reduction credits and feed-in tariffs expected in 2010, the case for distributed energy has never been greater.
NaREC is involved in the design, certification and installation of new technologies, working with developers of technologies to speed their future deployment and, with end users, to cut energy wastage and install appropriate proven systems for bespoke industrial, commercial and residential applications.
The scope of NaREC’s work across renewables and electricity reflects the inherent strengths of this region.
Andrew Mill is chief executive of naREC.
