Episode 10: Offshore Wind's Mammoth Tasks

In this episode, we’re focussing upon the truly Mammoth Tasks that are involved in keeping the UK’s offshore wind farms going. We’re talking about inspecting, maintaining and repairing thousands of miles of subsea cables, millions of super-sized bolts and thousands of blades suspended above the ocean waves. This is heavy manual work, often undertaken in extreme conditions - fraught with risks, delays and heavy costs. Please note that due to COVID-19 we are recording episodes remotely which may affect the audio quality in some places. Peter Andrews founded EchoBolt in 2019 after many years managing offshore wind sites for E.ON, most recently the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm. EchoBolt provides a range of consultancy and engineering integrity services to the wind industry, including advanced inspection and condition monitoring techniques and data insights that enable optimum installation and maintenance decisions to increase production and reduce costs. He is currently partnering with ORE Catapult on a project to develop and test his novel concept for a handheld device for simplifying inspection of wind turbine bolts. Visit the echobolt.co.uk or follow @EchoBolt on LinkedIn. Chris Cieslak founded BladeBUG in 2014 with a mission to design an advanced robotic solution that could transform blade inspection and maintenance at offshore wind farms, reducing risk and maximising asset lifetimes. Under a grant from Innovate UK, Chris and his team are developing and trialling BladeBUG, a lightweight hexapod robot that can walk directly on wind turbine blades. The robot uses modular tools to scan and conduct preventative maintenance, without exposing human technicians to the harsh offshore conditions. BladeBUG is now on track for commercial production in early 2021. Visit bladebug.co.uk or follow @Bladebuglimited on Twitter and LinkedIn. Saul Matthews is Commercial Director at Glasgow-based technology developer Synaptec, which offers renewable energy providers a unique technology for measuring voltage, current, temperature, and vibration over vast distances, at many locations, without any supporting infrastructure. Before joining Synaptec as Commercial Director, Saul led growth for start-up and established brands in the IT, mobile, unified communications and most recently semi-conductor industries in every major global market. Heather McLarty joined the ORE Catapult in December 2018 as a Project Manager in the Research and Disruptive Innovation team. In her role, she delivers cutting edge technology projects in partnership with a range of technology developers. Before joining ORE Catapult, Heather was a Graduate Engineer at Scottish and Southern Energy Networks.

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This is the place to discover more about emerging technology innovation in offshore renewables and the way that we will harness low carbon energy sources to meet our future energy needs. If you are curious about how to harness the world’s tides, launch intelligent ships with robotic crews in UK waters, adapt national grids to the future energy mix or how artists are envisioning the new offshore reality – this podcast is for you. The ReEnergise Podcast is delivered by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult - make sure to subscribe to the series and you’ll hear a fresh edition each month. Visit ore.catapult.org.uk and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter on @ORECatapult and on Instagram @ore.catapult ORE Catapult was established in 2013 by the UK Government and is part of a network of Catapults set up by Innovate UK in high growth industries. It is the UK’s leading innovation centre for offshore renewable energy. Independent and trusted, with a unique combination of world-leading test and demonstration facilities and engineering and research expertise, ORE Catapult convenes the sector and delivers applied research, accelerating technology development, reducing risk and cost and enhancing UK-wide economic growth. Active throughout the UK, ORE Catapult has operations in Glasgow, Blyth, Levenmouth, Aberdeen, Grimsby, Hayle, Pembroke Dock and Lowestoft. Legal Notice The opinions expressed in the podcast are those of the individual participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, any other agency, organisation, employer or company. By accessing this podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents and design of this podcast are the property of the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and are protected under UK and international copyright and trademark laws. I acknowledge that any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following: - I may download and play the podcast and share with others for personal use; - I will always acknowledge ORE Catapult as the source of the material; - I will not, except with ORE Catapult’s express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content.