Vattenfall, ORE Catapult Extend Test & Demo Alliance at Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm

Vattenfall and Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult have signed a three-year extension on their testing and demonstration collaboration at Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm.

The partnership at the 96.8MW offshore wind test and demonstration facility first began in 2019.

Since then, technologies which have the potential to address operation and maintenance challenges currently facing offshore wind farms have been tested at the site, such as blade repair, leading edge erosion, robotics, remote cable monitoring and autonomous inspection.

Now, more companies ready to test their technologies offshore will be supported by ORE Catapult and Vattenfall at the 11-turbine wind farm, located 2.5 km off the Aberdeen coast, until the end of 2026.

“As a leading developer of offshore wind, the collaboration between Vattenfall and ORE Catapult at Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm is absolutely vital. We’re supporting technologies needed to promote a competitive offshore wind industry, strengthen the supply chain, and bring economic benefits to the UK

“What we offer companies is a world class testing and demonstration facility. Technologies must meet the highest requirements – delivering increased safety in offshore wind operations, minimising impact on the environment, and reducing costs of renewable energy.

“We look forward to continued working with ORE Catapult to provide a test bed for exciting innovations that address the challenges facing offshore wind as we push toward net zero,” said Lisa Christie, UK Country Manager at Vattenfall.

“Extending our collaboration with Vattenfall gives innovative UK companies a unique opportunity to deploy, test and demonstrate their technology in a real-world environment at Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm,” added Hugh Riddell, Regional Partnership Manager at ORE Catapult.

Future projects at the wind farm will be looking at technology innovation in the areas of robotics and sustainable solutions, Vattenfall and ORE Catapult said.

So far, Safety at sea pioneers Zelim tested their Swift Rescue Conveyor System which demonstrated it was 20 times faster at recovering people overboard offshore than any conventional systems, and Pegasus Welfare Solutions (PWS) constructed the world’s first in-turbine toilets that have been installed into all the wind farm’s turbines. PWS was acquired by OEG Offshore in 2021.

Edinburgh based company, Cyberhawk conducted an automated drone blade inspection at the offshore wind farm.