Offshore energy centre opens in Glasgow

Catapult centre was set up by the government to help speed up commercialisation of technology

The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult Centre in Glasgow has opened. It has been established to help speed up the commercialisation of offshore wind, wave and tidal energy generating technologies.

It is one of seven technology and innovation centres set up by the government’s Technology Strategy Board with £200 million of public money.

The centre’s chief executive Andrew Jamieson said: “We recognise that the UK has a terrific academic and research sector, and early-stage business innovations, along with some outstanding industries at the other end. The catapult bridges the gap to enable early-stage ideas to become commercialised and established.”

Work has begun on the new catapult centre’s first four pilot projects. These will see industry and academia work together to roll out standards for offshore energy generation, develop a system for collecting and sharing data on the performance of installations, look at the cables that bring energy to shore, and find ways to de-risk early-stage wave and tidal energy farms. The catapult centre will employ more than 100 expert and support staff once it is fully operational.

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