The Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) has joined forces with ORE Catapult, a research body for offshore wind power, in a new five-year research and development partnership to look at ways to speed up the UK’s move towards net-zero emissions.
The OGTC’s members include a number of large oil and gas companies, such as Shell, Total, ExxonMobil and BP, the producer of Castrol lubricant products. Together with ORE Catapult, it believes transitioning the workforce, skills and supply chains of the oil and gas sector over to renewables will be essential to the energy sector’s future.
The new Energy Transition Alliance (ETA) has identified five projects for its technology roadmap, including setting up a floating wind power initiative specific to the UK supply chain, developing cheaper and smaller AC/DC conversion technology, developing a solution for the sustainable decommissioning of wind turbines and maximising the UK supply chain’s potential for renewables.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK Minister for Energy and Clean Growth, said innovation would lead to the oil and gas industry becoming more sustainable and drive the development of the renewables sector, adding:
“Collaboration across the energy sector will be essential to achieving our climate goals, and it is great to see the Energy Transition Alliance working towards developing new technologies, creating green jobs and helping the transition to a cleaner future.”
The OGTC and ORE Catapult will provide the first year’s funding for the ETA, which will then look to secure future funding from industry, government, and other sources.
