Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult

📢 Today, North East Mayor Kim McGuinness officially opened our new Technology Demonstration Centre, which is set to boost opportunities for innovation in the UK's offshore renewables industry in the North East of England! The state-of-the-art £6.3 million two-storey facility will provide testing, validation and demonstration for companies working on products and services to support offshore renewables, adding to the globally unique range of services already available at our National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth. The Technology Demonstration Centre houses a 1MW drivetrain test rig, mini electrical grid system, a 100kW test rig dedicated to smaller sub scale subsystems and a dedicated laboratory to improve the longevity, reliability and performance of critical components. 💡 A huge thank you to all the supporters of the project, including, The North East Combined Authority, Innovate UK, Blyth Town Deal and Northumberland County Council. 👉 Click here to read the full announcement: https://lnkd.in/edfQZRYn Steve Foxley | Kim McGuinness | David Wilkes | #TDCOpening

📢 PhD Opportunity: Engineering and Material Science for Next Generation Wind Turbines! We're pleased to present a unique PhD opportunity in partnership with the University of Leeds that will focus on improving the reliability and durability of high voltage (HV) dynamic power cables used for floating offshore wind turbines. The successful candidate will join a collaborative team at Leeds within two research institutes (iFS and iDRaM): global leaders in tribology, surface engineering, and sustainable manufacturing. You'll have access to state-of-the-art facilities through the The Bragg Centre for Materials Research and our Materials Services Laboratory at the National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth and develop skills in experimental mechanics, digital modelling, and offshore energy systems, with strong career prospects in clean energy innovation. This is a competition funded PhD project open to UK students only. Applications close on the 14th November 2025. Interested? - Discuss this opportunity with Dr. Mingwen Bai by clicking the link here: https://lnkd.in/e5Fzt4Dy David Hoyle | Ping Lu

We were delighted to welcome National Technology Adviser Dave Smith to our National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth today. We discussed investment in upgrading our world class facilities and outlined our plan for accelarating offshore wind consenting as referenced in the Government's Technology Adoption Review. Dave toured our 100m blade testing facility, our Digital, Autonomous and Robotics Engineering (DARE) Centre and is pictured below in front of our 15MW drivetrain testing facility. Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

📢 ORE Catapult Response to the AR7 Budget Announcement   The UK Government announced on 27th October 2025 the budget for offshore wind Allocation Round 7 (AR7). Our Analysis & Insights Manager, Emily Rees has outlined some of the key takeaways and what they might mean for future developments.   The AR7 budget pot for fixed-bottom wind is less than anticipated, with only around 4.7GW of capacity predicted to be awarded contracts for difference (CfDs), if strike prices mimic those from 2024.   Floating offshore wind has a dedicated budget pot which could allow for several demonstrator-scale projects to be deployed and make significant progress to proving out this emerging technology and reducing costs.   👉 Click here to read our full analysis: https://lnkd.in/ebzWdAY3

📢 LATEST NEWS: We're excited to announce today a £2.1 million investment in a new offshore wind cable testing rig in Blyth.   The investment - funded by The North East Combined Authority - will enable us to build a new high voltage (HV) electrical test facility and install bespoke equipment to carry out 'pre-qualification' testing on HV cable systems.   Currently, this type of testing can take up to two years and there are no facilities with this capability in the UK. This new development will speed up nationwide production, shorten time to market for new technology and deliver improved cable system reliability.   We will work with organisations within the cable manufacturing sector across the UK and worldwide, and international cable manufacturer, JDR Cable Systems, are the first to sign up to use the facility – due to open at the end of 2026.   👉 Read the full announcement here: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ez3T_y8D Innovate UK | Kim McGuinness | James Young

We are thrilled to shine a light on two of this year's event supporters of the UK Offshore Wind Supply Chain Spotlight: NOF and Energi Coast! ✨ NOF is a business development membership organisation based in the UK, which helps to make valuable connections between businesses in the global energy sector. Their network of partners work to put companies of all sizes in touch with the best and most innovative supply chain businesses in the UK. Energi Coast is North East England's offshore wind cluster, one of eight UK offshore wind clusters, focused on developing offshore wind strategies and action plans to promote regional capabilities. It is owned and operated by NOF. Join us and the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership on 11 December as we showcase the excellence and innovation within the UK's offshore wind supply chain! 📣 Secure your ticket now: https://lnkd.in/epKfjDZH 🗓️ 11 December 2025 📍The Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh reNEWS - Renewable Energy News | #spotlightonsupplychain

📢 NEW FUNDING CALL! 📢 We are delighted to announce that we have today launched our most ambitious funding programme to date to support the investment priorities set out in the Industrial Growth Plan (IGP). 🚀 The Industrial Growth Fund (IGF) offers funding from £300,000 to £25 million per supply chain project to accelerate capital investment in domestic manufacturing of key components, systems and services into the offshore wind sector. 🌊 If you’re a UK-based organisation looking to expand existing or build new supply chain facilities that align with one of the IGPs “Make”, “Nurture to make” or “Protect” categories this funding call is designed to support you. The call is open to a wide range of proposals across the existing supply chain and beyond, including both CIB compliant and non-CIB compliant projects. Funding for this programme comes from Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) developer members through their Industrial Growth Fund. 🌱 📅 Applications will close on Friday 12th December at 17:00. Read our latest press release: https://lnkd.in/exscsaVP  For more information on eligibility and how to apply, visit: https://lnkd.in/ey7BmwMj  #IndustrialGrowthFund #IndustrialGrowthPlan #OffshoreWind #FundingSupport #WindPower #UKWind #UKManufacturing

It's great to see that ACT Blade have recieved a Component Certificate for its ACT100 wind turbine blade. The certification follows structural and lightning testing, as well as final production of the 49.2m blade designed for 2MW turbines. We supported ACT Blade back in 2021 by carrying out testing of the smaller ACT27 rotor, it's exciting to see how far this innovative technology has progressed.

Earlier this week we came together for our All Team Conference to connect with colleagues and discuss how we can best continue innovating for a better world with abundant, affordable clean energy. 🌅   We had an inspiring two days in Glasgow which included keynotes from our CEO, Steve Foxley and Chair, Ronnie Bonnar, an employee expo, strategy roundtables and a video message from Energy Minister Michael Shanks MP.   A massive thanks to Maximillion Events Ltd for supporting the event and Living Teams and Mike Berners-Lee for your hugely insightful sessions

📢 Time is running out to register for our 'Enabling Trust In Autonomous, Space-Enabled, Marine Systems' Webinar! ⌛ We're excited to be hosting a webinar in partnership with the European Space Agency - ESA to help build trust, awareness and commercial momentum for autonomous, space-enabled marine systems. Join online to hear perspectives across industry, academia and the public sector including, ORE Catapult, the European Space Agency, Offshore Wind Growth Partnership, The Crown Estate, Equinor, University of Exeter, Oshen, ACUA Ocean, Environment Systems, Seiche , Stehr Consulting Ltd and more. 🕥 10:30AM - 12PM 🗓️ Thursday 23rd October 🎟️ Grab your free ticket now:🔗https://lnkd.in/eBhyVuBB