The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has signed an agreement with the West of Orkney Wind farm to kick-start a major research and innovation (R&I) programme into the offshore project.
EMEC, which is based on Orkney, will be tasked with increasing the competitiveness of the wind farm and enhancing R&I capacity in the north of Scotland.
Rights to develop the 2GW West of Orkney Wind farm were secured in January by a joint venture consisting of Corio Generation, TotalEnergies and Renewable Infrastructure Development Group (RIDG).
The project will be located 30km off the west coast of Orkney and aims to start producing renewable power by 2030.
EMEC has been at the forefront of marine renewable energy innovation for almost 20 years, demonstrating a range of technologies from wave and tidal energy to green hydrogen and subsea data centres.
Building upon its core strengths in technical research programme delivery, this partnership will be the first with a large-scale, commercial offshore wind farm and will support further diversification of the organisation.
The West of Orkney wind farm R&I programme will be tasked with identifying ways to deliver the project more efficiently and cost effectively.
These will cover a broad range of challenges, including the exposed location, environmental impacts and increased remote operations.
EMEC will review the offshore wind R&I landscape, mapping this against the needs of the project and capabilities across the region.
This will inform the development of a long-term project-specific R&I programme which EMEC will deliver in collaboration with a range of stakeholders including the local supply chain.
This initial work programme with EMEC is part of a wider West of Orkney Wind farm initiative to support the offshore wind supply chain locally, in Scotland and across the UK.
This will be enabled by a £105m (€123.1m) project-level investment initiative that will be enhanced to £140m by third parties, in advance of a Final Investment Decision in 2026.
West of Orkney Wind farm general manager Mike Hay said: “EMEC and Orkney have become synonymous with pathfinder projects leading the way in renewable energy production.
“This partnership programme enables us to draw on EMEC’s considerable expertise and will ensure that local experience and data feeds into the project, building upon the cluster of business and academia that are active in the north of Scotland.
“Importantly, it will also inform how the West of Orkney Wind farm can be delivered faster, cheaper and at lower risk.
“At the same time, the programme will leverage EMEC’s network and experience to deliver local content and actively promote economic growth.
“We hope that EMEC’s unique status will enable the partners to identify new opportunities and attract additional funding, amplifying the investment from the West of Orkney Wind farm and its partners.”
EMEC commercial director Matthew Finn said: “EMEC has been working with the West of Orkney Wind farm team for the past two years to support the early developmental phases of the project.
“Orkney and its surrounding waters present a clear opportunity to deliver significant amounts of carbon free and truly sustainable power.
“This new phase of work will allow us to help the existing supply chain build operational capacity and scale up activities.
“EMEC has been gathering data around the west coast of Orkney for the last 20 years and delivered a wide range of R&D projects for green offshore technologies, so we can feed our learning into the windfarm development.
“With the West of Orkney Windfarm just 30km west of EMEC’s Billia Croo test site, we believe it provides an ideal pathway for emerging technologies to scale up and move out into the harsh waters around us.”