Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult has opened a £2m research centre in China in collaboration with local outfit TUS Clean Energy.
The TUS-ORE Catapult Research Centre (Torc) is located in Yantai City and will support R&D in renewables to boost offshore wind in both countries.
It will develop collaborative research programmes, support market entry and incubation for UK businesses in China, provide commercial support for Chinese offshore wind developers and support the demonstration of new technologies on a 300MW wind farm in Shandong province.
ORE Catapult chief executive Andrew Jamieson said: “Our new research centre, in partnership with TUS, will support UK businesses as they take advantage of a new wave of opportunities to engage with one of the fastest-growing offshore wind markets in the world – and present a fantastic opportunity to develop a supply chain that can compete on a global scale.
“With more than a decade of experience and expertise in this sector, and global exports expected to be worth £2.6bn a year by 2030 for UK companies, now is the time for innovative companies to act and establish themselves at the heart of the Chinese market.”
TUS Clean Energy senior vice president Charlie Du said: “The TUS-ORE Catapult Research Centre is an important project established under ‘The Belt and Road’ initiative.
“China’s ocean economy is increasing by 7.2% per year and the province of Shandong’s abundant resources has been enlisted by the State Council as a ‘comprehensive test area for new and old kinetic energy conversion.
“Following the development of Torc, I believe the government will provide more favourable policies to UK companies seeking to enter China to create real benefit to both sides, furthering the technological cooperation between China and UK and creating significant opportunities and reliable incubation service for UK companies.”
The announcement comes during the week-long Innovate UK Global Business Innovation Programme offshore wind trade mission to China involving 11 UK companies.
The companies are Synaptec, GreenSpur Renewables, Magnomatics, Rovco, SENSE Wind Ltd, ARC Marine, Cedeco Contractors, MasterFilter, Anakata Wind Power Resources, Sennen Tech and First Airborne Britannia.