Scottish businesses are being given a head start in developing offshore wind products and services due to a new initiative launched by the Knowledge Exchange Network (KEN).
The scheme encourages entrepreneurs and developers from different industries to bring their innovative ideas and technologies to the table, particularly those at the early stages of development.
It also encourages bids from smaller businesses that lack in-house development skills.
The programme will take successful applicants from feasibility study and modelling stages through to testing and validation for the next stage of development.
KEN, which is funded by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, provides Scottish technology developers with access to the country’s top academics and researchers via the Energy Technology Partnership (ETP).
The ETP is an alliance of 13 Scottish universities offering world-class capability and resources in energy technology development.
One company to have benefitted from the scheme is Argyll-based Renewable Parts, founded by entrepreneur Ewan Anderson in 2011.
Renewable Parts identified a gap in the market for a reliable and sustainable system for sourcing spare parts for wind farms by refurbishing old parts instead of sourcing new ones, which also helps the industry keep its costs down.
The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult will help KEN to identify the best ideas and ways of commercialising them.
ORE Catapult’s Alex Louden, who leads wind business development for the ETP, said: “We are living through one of the biggest energy transitions in human history – wind energy has gone from almost zero to a multi-billion pound industry in the UK in just a few decades.”
According to Louden some of the ideas taken through the ETP have started out as sketches or “almost back-garden experiments,” while others are “gamechangers” from the country’s larger manufacturers.
“Where you start from is not important, what we are looking for are ingenious ideas that can tackle some of the industry’s key technology challenges.”