Dong, Siemens Gamesa team up for UK offshore wind research

Dong Energy A/S (CPH:DENERG) and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA (BME:GAM) are taking part in a GBP-7.6-million (USD 9.8m/EUR 8.6m) UK research project to advance offshore wind power technologies.

Offshore wind developer Dong and turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa are partnering with UK academic researchers from the Universities of Sheffield, Durham and Hull on the five-year initiative and are contributing GBP 2.5 million towards the project's funding. The programme is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and also includes contributions from the three universities.

The government funding for the project was announced on Thursday as part of a GBP-138-million investment in research-business partnerships.

The project will seek to address current and future challenges to lower the cost of offshore wind power, Dong said in a statement.

According to an announcement by the University of Sheffield, which will lead the research, it will also aim to prepare the ground for the next generation of wind turbines and farms.

"Two principal technology challenges for OSW cost-reduction are increases in turbine size, and smarter operations and maintenance," said professor Mike Hounslow of the university.

"As we build more offshore windfarms in the UK, we are investing heavily in operations and maintenance activities so understanding if these costs can be reduced by "condition monitoring" is key in our aim to reduce costs further," said Benj Sykes of Dong.

(GBP 1 = USD 1.294/EUR 1.136)

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