ORE Catapult and FLOWRA Sign MoU to Advance Floating Wind Tech

The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapultin the UK and the Japanese Floating Wind Technology Research Association (FLOWRA) have enteredinto a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborateonminimizing risks and expenses associated with floating offshore wind. The memorandum of understanding,enteredinto in Tokyo on March 7, comesafter nine months of partnership between ORE Catapult and FLOWRA. The initiative will include aspects like personnel exchanges, standardizing component technologies, and establishing a "test and demonstration alliance" to advance technology on a broad scale, according to ORE Catapult. The MoUaligns with a broader recent collaboration between the UK and Japanese governments concerning the advancement of these turbine types.

The UK government's Plan for Change seeks to “make Britain a clean energy superpower" while creating new economic opportunities for local businesses. The ORE Catapult-FLOWRA MoU will ultimately integrate“UK R&D capability” and “Japanese industrial manufacturing capacity” leadingto a boost in the development of floating offshore wind technology, ORE Catapult states. Inaddition to delivering economic advantages for each nation, a strong offshore floating wind capacity will enhance energy security for the UK and Japan, while helping both achieve their decarbonisation objectives, states Dr. Cristina Garcia-Duffy, director of research and technical capabilities at ORECatapult. For instance, the Japanese government has established ambitious goals of 10GW of offshore capacity by 2030, rising to 45GW by 2040. Floating wind turbines are anticipated to have a crucial impact in this area, given Japan's limited availability to shallow-water locations for fixed-bottom turbines.