Coinciding with the RenewableUK’s ‘Wind Energy Week’, today the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) is highlighting its newly published standardised technology demonstration agreement (STDA). This agreement and the accompanying guidance aims to provide standardisation for technology providers and offshore wind operators seeking to test and demonstrate new products and services on offshore wind farms under operational conditions.
One crucial but often overlooked stage of technology development is testing and demonstration new products and services on wind farms. But to date, there has been a lack of consistent guidance on how technology providers – often small enterprises – can perform these demonstrations on offshore wind assets owned by large operators.
To solve this challenge, the standardised technology demonstration agreement (STDA) provides a template agreement for testing and demonstrating near-to-market technologies (TLR-7-9) on operational offshore wind farms in the UK, setting out clear roles and responsibilities of the technology providers and operators, and clarifying the process steps to a successful demonstration. A consistent approach to technology demonstrations backed by a standard agreement template will enable the UK innovators to take new products and services to market faster, having obtained performance data under real operational conditions.
The STDA Task Force was composed of industry experts across the offshore wind sector – including OWGP, offshore wind developers, supply chain companies and financial and legal experts. It has been supported by representatives from the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) and RenewableUK. The STDA was developed in direct response to Tim Pick’s Offshore Wind Champion Report, which called for an industry-standard approach to technology demonstration agreements
Tim Pick MBE, OWGP Director, said: “During my time as the UK’s Offshore Wind Champion, it became apparent the offshore wind sector is oozing with high-potential innovations that aren’t always realised. By providing a clear template and easier access to the market, this agreement will help more of these ideas to become a commercial reality – unlocking more value in business growth, intellectual property, and exports for UK companies. This agreement, along with the recent publication of the Offshore Wind Industrial Growth Plan, are solid evidence that the offshore wind industry is collaborating, rapidly maturing, and becoming a real shining star of the UK’s future.”
Ajai Ahluwalia, Head of Supply Chain at RenewableUK, said: “The formal publication of the STDA is a long needed and promising development for the industry. I know from firsthand experience the challenges operators have in allowing these demos. The STDA should make it easier for operators to say yes and hopefully see technology applied that, for example, see assets perform better. Operators are rightly cautious when implementing new technology or services on revenue-generating operating assets. But with the STDA, Innovators and Operators now have a better means of articulating the risks and responsibilities which will provide consistency and transparency across the industry.”
The Standard Technology Demonstration Agreement (STDA) has now been published in full, and can be found here: Standardised Technology Demonstration Agreement – Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (owgp.org.uk)
Notes
- The STDA was delivered in response to one of the recommendations to from Offshore Wind Champion Tim Pick’s independent report: Seizing our Opportunities (March 2023):
“OWIC and OWGP should promote the development of an industry standard approach to technology demonstration agreements for innovators seeking access to commercial Offshore Wind Farms for testing and demonstration.”
- The STDA task force was composed of OWGP, Ashurst LLP, Osborne Clarke LLP, Howden Group & RenewableUK which engaged with industry working groups, technology developers and offshore wind operators including, OWIC Innovation and OWIC Supply Chain and Clusters working groups, Echobolt, Jet Connectivity, Anakata Wind Power resources, Equinor, Orsted, BP and SSE.
- RenewableUK’s ‘Wind Energy Week’ outlines 5 key steps to build the next era of energy. One of these crucial steps is to ‘Unlock investment for building wind through UK supply chain & ports’
About the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership
The Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) is a long-term business transformation programme that has been established as part of the UK Offshore Wind Sector Deal. It promotes closer collaboration across the supply chain, implements structured productivity improvement programmes and facilitates shared growth opportunities between developers and the supply chain.
OWGP has supported 225 UK companies since the organisation’s inception in 2019. There have been over 1400 registrations of interest on the OWGP website, where further information on the Innovation Grants can be found. For more information and to apply for funding or business transformation support, go to https://owgp.org.uk/funding-and-support-opportunities/
With funding from the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC), delivery is focused on direct support to supply chain companies through a combination of , business transformation and grant funding. The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult is managing the delivery of OWGP with support from specialist delivery partners.
About the Offshore Wind Industry Council
The Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) was established in May 2013 to drive the development of the offshore wind sector in the UK.
Building on the outputs of the 2019 Offshore Wind Sector Deal, and Seizing our opportunities: independent report of the Offshore Wind Champion, published in 2023, OWIC brings together industry and government to realise the UK’s ambition of 50GW of offshore wind by 2030.
Co-Chaired by the Minister of State for Energy Security and Net-Zero and a government-appointed industry co-Chair, OWIC actively drives progress towards offshore wind delivery, supported by an industry-funded work programme and dedicated team within RenewableUK.
About RenewableUK
RenewableUK’s members are building our future energy system, powered by clean electricity. We bring them together to deliver that future faster; a future which is better for industry, billpayers, and the environment. We support over 470 member companies to ensure increasing amounts of renewable electricity are deployed across the UK and to access export markets all over the world. Our members are business leaders, technology innovators, and expert thinkers from right across industry.