Research for future oceans
Floating offshore wind solutions for Celtic Sea developers
Find out how our unrivalled technical capabilities and expertise can support the successful roll-out of floating offshore wind (FLOW) in the Celtic Sea
Work with us
Work with us to access the definitive place to test, trial and deploy renewable energy technology. Together we will reduce development costs and empower your organisation to de-risk, decarbonise and optimise operations.
Start your collaboration by contacting us today:
- We can optimise the hydrodynamic design of offshore renewable structures for performance and survivability
- We lead on advanced high-tech autonomous ocean data collection
- We enhance and safeguard operations with our state-of-the-art simulators and cyber resilience testbeds
- We fundamentally understand how operations will interact with the ocean environment through our leading marine science research
Business solutions
Testing and de-risking
Access unrivalled engineering services and expertise to support your deployment of resilient floating offshore wind technology in the Celtic Sea.
Our research and development facilities provide the optimal space in which to test and de-risk your designs.
Hydro- and aerodynamic design
Test floating offshore wind turbine and platform designs, investigate wave energy and assess different coastal engineering solutions through our COAST Lab hydrodynamic facility.
- Fully adjustable water depth, wave and current dynamics, and wind conditions to mirror the Celtic Sea environment.
- De-risk floating offshore wind installations and mooring designs by running physical experiments at scale.
- Generate test data to understand limits of designs and how they perform under different scenarios.
Physical and virtual modelling and simulation
De-risk floating offshore wind installations and reduce operational costs through our Maritime Simulation Laboratory, home to the bespoke Kongsberg Dynamic Positioning Simulator.
- True-to-life simulations of vessels, structures, weather and wave conditions.
- Measure a wide range of metrics, including dynamic forces, power and stresses.
- Evaluate insurance risks and assess carbon budget.
Designing for cyber resilience
Enhance design and development of new maritime technology to elevate your cyber security.
- Build cyber resilience into your floating offshore wind developments with secure-by-design principles.
- Analyse and address cyber security vulnerabilities at the hardware, software, and human levels to mitigate threats.
- Embed leading technological and training solutions that will protect your company, your consumers and the environment.
Data capture for planning
Apply the latest remote sensing, artificial intelligence (AI) and marine autonomous systems expertise for informed decision-making, risk mitigation and adaptation.
- Identify optimal locations for floating offshore wind turbines, infrastructure and moorings through the collection of ocean and shoreline spatial data.
- Accelerate the process of surveying, monitoring and conducting environmental impact assessments by using AI alongside marine autonomous systems, novel sensors and robotics.
- Monitor wave energy, wind speed and depth profile to achieve peak performance and operational resilience.
Life cycle assessment
Analyse the environmental impacts of every aspect of your planned floating offshore wind development, from turbine and infrastructure design to maintenance vessels, construction, materials and supply chain operations.
- Carry out rigorous life cycle assessments of the materials and machines used in your developments, as well as research on recycling materials for circular economy.
- Leverage our clean maritime expertise to address the impact of deploying floating turbines into the marine environment.
- Examine the ecological impacts of FLOW installations and prepare strategies for decommissioning.
Legal aspects of FLOW operations
Fulfil your specific legal obligations associated with planning floating offshore wind developments.
- Address conflicting priorities while remaining legally compliant in areas such as policy and cross-border relations with Ireland and the EU.
- Embed both offshore and onshore legal considerations into rigorous planning and approval processes.
- Ensure that your proposals observe cultural heritage and environmental law, and specifically the Habitats Regulations and the Marine and Coastal Access Act.
Business solutions
Development and deployment
Optimise your floating offshore wind operations, reduce costs, increase cyber security, and decarbonise deployments, maintenance and supply chain infrastructure.
Our commercial experience will enable you to successfully and sustainably integrate with UK ports and the National Grid.
Photo credit: Øyvind Gravås (Equinor)
Integration of alternative energy
Decarbonise operations, manage supply and storage, and reduce costs through Power-to-X and diverse energy systems.
- Cut distribution costs and facilitate efficient energy storage solutions by integrating green hydrogen production, and other alternative fuels, with floating offshore wind.
- Eliminate supply and demand balancing challenges by co-locating other offshore renewable energy with your operations, such as solar, wave and tidal stream energy.
- Reduce the carbon footprint of your supply chain and the wider energy sector by leveraging regional geothermal energy.
Maritime cyber security solutions
Safeguard new technology and ensure secure FLOW deployments.
- Protect critical energy infrastructure against growing maritime cyber threats with advanced security mechanisms through fundamental understanding of risk in both Information and Operational Technology (IT/OT) convergence.
- Prevent service outages with cyber-physical testing and solutions to respond quickly to attacks, such as viruses, ransomware and blackmail.
- Access nationally unique resources, like Cyber-SHIP Lab, Smart Sound Plymouth, and the new Cyber Resilience of Offshore Wind Networks (CROWN) facility to ensure resilient deployment in the region.
Optimisation of installation and operational maintenance
Lower your carbon footprint, and that of your supply chain, by delivering effective and efficient operations utilising new technologies.
- Model, test and analyse real-world scenarios in our state-of-the-art COAST Lab, Maritime Simulation Lab and Cyber-SHIP Lab.
- Reduce costs and improve data-gathering efficiency, maritime safety, monitoring and environmental impacts with leading facilities and expertise in marine autonomous systems.
- Decarbonise maintenance and support vessels by accessing our capabilities in clean maritime technology.
Port integration and logistics
Facilitate ports and their supply chains to transition to effective low-carbon operations.
- Utilise our expertise in green shipping, port management, procurement and logistics.
- Develop business models to successfully manage the transition to a net-zero economy.
- Train new sector-specific professionals, engineers, and project managers with a focus on ORE operations, predictive analytics and maritime economics.
Business solutions
Social and environmental value
Engage stakeholders throughout your development and deployment process to ensure that environmental and social impacts are measured and managed through ongoing monitoring.
Our transdisciplinary approach will help you to demonstrate biodiversity net gain, drive community and climate justice and support regional economic benefits such as new skills and supply chain jobs.
Tackling inequality
Stimulate economic growth and support the national ‘levelling up’ agenda by creating opportunities for businesses, jobs and skills.
- Foster a unified and consensual approach to the ORE agenda by considering the needs of the development areas alongside the needs of the country as a whole.
- Identify and analyse the economic impacts generated by ORE to ensure that investment and employment benefits local people and regionally embedded businesses.
- Increase supply chain resilience and capacity by subscribing to innovation and skills in the South West.
Environmental benefits
Consider human profit alongside the needs and rights of the natural environment to maximise benefits while minimising impacts.
- Support the UK commercial fisheries industry by using our natural capital expertise to demonstrate how offshore installations can contribute to new feeding and nursing grounds.
- Foster the co-existence of offshore wind operations with a thriving environment using unparalleled capabilities and equipment in the application of marine and environmental intelligence.
- Co-locate your developments with sustainable local enterprise, such as kelp farming or aquaculture, to stimulate regional job prospects and a healthy marine ecosystem.
Working with communities
Effectively engage local stakeholders to co-create a FLOW development process that preserves and enhances the cultural and social fabric of host communities.
- Combine scientific and ethical perspectives to facilitate community-conscious development through a whole systems-thinking approach.
- Empower local stakeholders with meaningful, ongoing opportunities to participate in decision-making processes, as well as including, informing and inspiring communities through public engagement programmes.
- Work alongside the traditional local fishing, agricultural and tourism industries with respect to regional food security, livelihoods and cultural heritage.
Environmental monitoring
Optimise surveying, monitoring and environmental impact assessments in the marine ecosystem by combining advanced AI imaging with autonomous systems.
- Deploy novel sensors, robotics and autonomous camera technology to build long-term datasets of seafloor imagery.
- Identify and analyse the distribution of protected species in the Celtic Sea region to mitigate impacts from development and promote conservation.
- Speed up the consenting process by interpreting autonomous survey data in real time with AI technology.
Why work with Plymouth?
Supported by vital geographical and physical assets, Plymouth is in a unique position with a full ecosystem underpinning all aspects of deployment of new and novel maritime technology.
Flexible tailored support
Optimise your FLOW development and operations by employing our academic expertise, specialist facilities and sector-specific technology.
- Drive new technological solutions through our Energy Innovation and Skills Generator, a support programme of commercial consultation, facility access and collaborative research and development.
- Address key sector challenges through co-investment and strategic research enabled by a consortium membership model.
- Achieve your commercialisation aims by accessing a continuum of ongoing support, ranging from consultancy to tailored student projects and company-sponsored PhDs.
Skills, expertise and future workforce
Invest in the development of skills required for the scaling up of the offshore renewable energy sector.
- Access apprenticeships, undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral-level programmes in areas such as offshore renewable energy, maritime logistics and economics, onshore and marine design and engineering, cyber security, and marine autonomous systems.
- Upskill your workforce and advance specialist skills through our bespoke training opportunities.
- Drive regional growth through our Energy Innovation and Skills Generator, to support research and development and fulfil sector employment requirements.
Start a conversation by contacting us today:
News stories and announcements
- Academic invited to help develop China’s offshore renewable energy revolution 24 April 2024
- Local MP blown away by world-class offshore wind testing facilities 18 April 2024
- University features on BBC’s Great Coastal Railway Journeys 10 April 2024
- Academic shortlisted for award recognising the UK’s net zero pioneers 29 February 2024
- Shaping the future of floating offshore wind energy 28 February 2024
Why the Celtic Sea developments are important
As part of their net zero and energy security objectives, the UK government has set an ambitious target to deploy 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030, of which at least five GW will be floating. In the Celtic Sea, the ambition is to unlock up to 4.5 GW of floating wind energy by 2035 and further 12 GW by 2045.
The Crown Estate is delivering new leasing opportunities for developing floating offshore wind in a designated area of the Celtic Sea off the coast of Cornwall and South Wales.
Developers are required to consider social and environmental impacts as part of their leasing applications and must be able to provide opportunities for growth and investment in the region alongside the expansion of the offshore renewable energy sector.
In driving the transition to clean energy, and providing significant, sustainable growth in jobs, skills and regional supply chain infrastructure, the Celtic Sea developments will cement the UK’s position as a world leader in floating offshore wind energy.
Original photograph of the WindFloat Atlantic project, courtesy of Principle Power/Ocean Wind.