Cleantech company Kinewell Energy has signed a multi-year global contract renewal with Equinor for the continued use of its offshore wind cost optimisation software, KLOC.
The contract follows more than four years of collaboration between the two companies, with Equinor using Kinewell’s KLOC software for optimising cable systems for offshore wind projects.
The Kinewell Layout Optimisation of Cable (KLOC) software utilises AI-powered technology to rapidly design optimised inter-array cable layouts for offshore wind farms.
KLOC uses advanced mathematical optimisation algorithms to produce economically optimised layouts with greater reliability, typically saving around 20% of cable system capex, while streamlining early-stage development, Kinewell said.
The company is based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK and exports its technology to clients across the European, US, Japanese, South Korean, and Chinese offshore wind markets.
Kinewell chief executive and founder Andrew Jenkins said: “We are absolutely thrilled that our global partnership with Equinor has been renewed, and as a result, Equinor will continue to leverage the significant savings in both cost and time that our software delivers.
“With a typical 1GW offshore wind farm’s inter-array cable system costing around US$140m, our KLOC software provides very significant project savings.
“Thanks to these vast savings, developers the world over are increasingly turning to Kinewell’s leading software to support the cost optimisation of their projects.”
Norway-based Equinor currently powers around 750,000 UK homes through its three operational wind farms; Sheringham Shoal, Dudgeon, and the world’s first floating wind farm, Hywind Scotland.
In partnership with SSE Renewables and Vårgrønn, Equinor is building the largest offshore wind farm in the world, Dogger Bank, off the north-east coast of England, and is maturing its plans to extend both the Dudgeon and Sheringham Shoal wind farms.
Pictured, from left: Kinewell staff members Coskun Baygar and Hamza Sajid with Tom Nightingale (Equinor) and Kinewell colleagues Dr Andrew Jenkins, Steven Ziolkowski, Cherish Brown and Dr Jiaxin Zhang at the Dogger Bank wind farm O&M base