Carbon Trust offers cash prize for sturdier offshore turbines

The Carbon Trust has today announced the launch of a multi million pound global competition designed to identify new foundation technologies capable of supporting the next generation of deep water offshore wind turbines.

The government-backed Carbon Trust and a coalition of five wind energy specialists - DONG Energy, Airtricity Developments, RWE nPower, ScottishPower Renewables and StatoilHydro - have put forward a £20m prize fund that is intended to help accelerate the commercialisation of foundation designs capable of cutting costs by 30 per cent compared to current designs.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary threw down the gauntlet to engineering firms, urging them to develop designs for the new competition. "It's time for the industry to seize the opportunity and take the money that's there for advanced green manufacturing," he said.

The UK's current offshore wind farms tend to be located in relatively shallow waters, but many of the locations selected for the next wave of sites are in areas where sea depths can reach between 30 and 60 metres and new more robust foundation designs will be required for the proposed projects.

Moreover, foundations can account for up to a fifth of the overall cost of an offshore wind farm project and developers are keen to identify more cost effective means of mooring turbines. A number of different technologies are being developed across the industry, including plans from some developers for floating wind turbines.

Adam Bruce, chairman of the British Wind Energy Association, welcomed the new competition, adding that the development of deep water turbines is essential if the UK is to meet its renewable energy targets.

"In order for Round 3 to deliver up to 25GW of capacity, we need to address the technological challenges of offshore deployment now," he warned. "This competition will help retain the UK's advantage as the key destination for large scale offshore wind investment."

The Carbon Trust said that it was seeking designs from engineers, academics and research institutes, and would provide £100,000 to each design that makes the short list, providing it with the funding to carry out detailed assessments of the proposals' viability. The winning design will then receive a multi-million pound prize from the consortium to build and install a pilot version of the foundations. The competition formally opens on 11th May and closes on the 15th June.

The launch comes days after Chancellor Alistair Darling announced changes to the Renewables Obligation subsidy mechanism designed to provide offshore wind developers with an extra $525m over the next two years. Industry insiders had been fearful that without further financial support rising turbine costs would result in the postponement or cancellation of a number of projects.