GreenSpur has won £50,000 from the Supply Chain innovation for Offshore Renewable Energy (SCORE) grant scheme to accelerate the development of a wind generator that uses easy-to-source ferrites.
The grant will allow the company to build a 50kW direct drive permanent magnet generator by early next year, it said.
The use of ferrites promises huge savings for offshore wind because it could eliminate the industry-wide reliance on expensive and scarce neodymium iron boron, according to GreenSpur.
SCORE offers up to £50,000 to help companies across England develop new products, processes and ideas that offer new ways of solving problems and driving efficiency in offshore renewables. GreenSpur’s grant is the first of the program’s new £6m fund.
The company already won a £50,000 SCORE grant in 2014, which allowed it to build a 2kW prototype.
GreenSpur are now engaging with the market with the objective of establishing a development partnership to take the technology to multi-MW levels.
“Using ferrites would have a huge impact on the cost of offshore wind and the research in this project is unique,” SCORE project manager Rob Bush said.
“The panel was so impressed with the research so far and the potential is immense.”
Image: 2kW prototype (GreenSpur)
