A consortium of companies led by the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult has partnered to work on the world's biggest "offshore wind living lab" which will work on improved communications and develop new green technologies to meet climate targets through a 5G testbed, connecting to the port and the wind farm near Grimsby. The £2.3 million project will be funded by Innovate UK, Great Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership and industry match funding.
With the prognosis of rapid expansion of offshore wind, from 13GW to 50GW in the next decade, it is essential to address the operations and maintenance costs of wind warms, estimated to account for around 25% of its total lifetime cost. This project aims to work on these issues by developing robotics and autonomous solutions which will help support the necessary inspections, repair and maintenance of offshore wind farms.
A total of 15 5G radio transmitters will be installed across five sites, some of them will be placed on wind turbines and others will be on a radio mast. Additionally, two solar-powered buoys will provide an extended 5G network beyond the range of the wind farm.
Speaking with BusinessLive, head of smart operations and maintenance at ORE Catapult, Ben George said: "This 5G testbed is a hugely exciting development for O&M [operations and maintenance] in offshore renewable energy, as it establishes the core communications infrastructure for the biggest offshore wind 'living lab' in the world. The testbed will demonstrate the benefits of new remote digital solutions that require high bandwidth, low latency wireless communications – aimed at making O&M safer, greener and more effective.
"It will provide a real-world development, demonstration and test zone for robotics and autonomous systems, remote sensors, wearable technology, cyber security, zero emission vessels, smart ports, and aquaculture that will drive the digital future of O&M. This gives UK innovators and technology developers the upper hand as they bring new products and services to market, including for export into an offshore wind sector that is booming around the world."
