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UK to establish Offshore Renewable Energy technology and innovation center

UK Business Secretary Vince Cable announced the start of a competition to form an Offshore Renewable Energy technology and innovation centre. The new center will focus on technologies for offshore wind, wave and tidal power.

The Government has committed more than £200 million (US$328 million) over the next four years to establish a network of at least six technology and innovation centers. The centers allow businesses to access equipment and expertise to help them commercialize new and emerging technology, and to help them capture a share of the global market.

The announcement of the Offshore Renewable Energy technology and innovation center follows earlier announcements about centers in High Value Manufacturing and Cell Therapy.

Cable also announced today that £20 million will now be invested into two clean technology funds; Zouk Cleantech 2 and HG Capital Renewable Power Partners 2, as part of the £325 million (US$534 million) UK Innovation Investment Fund (UKIIF). The funds will support innovative businesses with high growth potential that are raising equity finance. The money will then flow into companies working on:

  • Alternative energy generation;
  • Renewable energy infrastructure including wind farms;
  • Energy efficiency; and
  • Water treatment and conservation.

According to figures from the Carbon Trust, the global offshore windmarket will grow by 10% per year over the next 40 years and be worth up to £170 billion (US$279 billion) per year by 2050. The UK is predicted to capture a 12% share of the global market, equating to around £215 billion (US$353 billion) turnover to the UK economy from 2010–2050.

Comments

SJC

If we lose central government, there will be no focal point for any of this. Progress on renewable energy will grind to a halt.

Reel$$

Replacing one blight with another is not progress. Building and installing thousands of wind turbines offshore is not our best option. They are wildly expensive, damaging to wildlife and a maintenance nightmare.

Producing energy locally, in-situ, is a far more practical and far less expensive method of generating electricity. We need to start thinking hard about the enviro-impact on waterways, shorelines, offshore lines and sub-marine habitat. Building dams, wind turbines, tidal and wave action generators offshore - looks less and less healthy when compared to distributed solutions.

Conservationists recognize the far superior path of small footprint energy delivered directly where needed. This is the point of drip watering in big ag and our local gardens. We produce energy where needed. This has the lowest enviro impact and highest energy efficiency. Live the slogan "Think global, act local."

Which results in the need for immediate implementation of new distributed energy appliances that produce heat, hot water and electricity for our homes. We can no longer afford to avoid this change. It may be disruptive. It may be unsettling for the old school. It may step on toes. That's the price of growing up.

There is a way to build the next step based on power sharing. It means we retain the most efficient, cost effective elements of centralized grid transmission with local, distributed CHP-type energy systems. Combined the two can compliment each other, enhancing grid with supplemental resources, and micro-grid enabled backup and UPS services.

We cannot afford massive offshore wind farms when we have far more reliable, compact, local options. Mills' CIHT electrical power system is one revolutionary option.

SJC

I do not mind offshore wind, it must be difficult to construct. I watched a turbine being installed and each one is a challenge, but if it is cost effective more power to them.

Reel$$

We may as well view the new power structure as a hybrid. We can reduce the size and inefficiency of the old grid with some smart innovation. Simultaneously build out the distributed network in residences and light industry. The combined two resources will be a benefit to environment, sustainability, and security.

Further on wind: because of the very high installation and maintenance cost, offshore wind should be permitted only with a "disassemble completion bond" - a financial escrow necessary to remove the turbines at the end of their service life.

Engineer-Poet

One wonders if ReelDevious is willing to advocate for the same removal bonding for all of the NG wells and pipelines his scheme requires. Don't even ask him about a bond for removing all the carbon from the atmosphere.

SJC

When you hear about all the capped wells you wonder why anyone worries about a place to store CO2. Put it in older oil wells to get more out of them and when done, cap them. I could see a CO2 pipeline network something like NG.

Reel$$

EP... "removing ALL the carbon from the atmosphere?" Shirley you jest! And yes, legislation to return the habitat to the condition it was found in should be standard for extraction industries.

Engineer-Poet

It's like removing all the nitrogen and phosphorus from your wastewater... a concept that's probably foreign to you also, as they're "natural and necessary" substances. Which they are, just not in the quantities we would otherwise dump into lakes and rivers.

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