UK Manufacturing Technology for Next Generation Wind Turbines: Composites Phase 2B

Concepts

• energy related
• joule phase
• phase 2b
• offshore wind
• composite components
• next generation wind turbines
• uk manufacturing technology
• 20mw+ offshore wind turbines
• an offshore wind turbine
• the potential phase

Location

London

Description

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has appointed the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (OREC) to carry out the work described in Section II.2.4 of this notice. OREC will work in close collaboration with the National Composites Centre (NCC) to deliver the scope of the project. OREC and NCC are members of the UK Catapult Network and are centres of excellence responsible for offshore wind and composite materials respectively. This collaboration is therefore a unique offering of all of the skills and capabilities needed to deliver this project.

Total Quantity or Scope

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has procured work under Phase 2B of the 'UK Manufacturing Technology for Next Generation Wind Turbines'. This is a continuation of Joule Phase 1, which investigated the potential for incorporating radically new composite-based components and lightweight designs in 20MW+ offshore wind turbines and Joule Phase 2, which developed more detailed design concepts for a range of composite components within an offshore wind turbine. Engagement with the industry during Phase 2 has highlighted a number of risks with progressing to openly tendered Phase 3, and this Phase 2B has been designed to address those risks and will further progress the technical design and verification of a composite tower product and establish the basis and strategy for the tower's potential commercial exploitation to best benefit the UK supply chain in the potential Phase 3.

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 71314000 - Energy and related services

Indicators

• Award on basis of price.

Legal Justification

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) was looking for a Delivery Partner (DP) with a number of characteristics, which would enable effective delivery of the scope of the programme. The DP is required to have deep technical expertise and operational knowledge in offshore wind and composite industries; ability to engage with the market and the supply chain in a neutral way. The Catapult network was set up to be neutral and in the benefit of UK PLC therefore OREC/NCC’s participation in a potential Phase 3 will remain neutral, fair and supports the applicants/successful suppliers in a non-competitive way. While developing the business case for this programme, DESNZ has considered various procurement route options. DESNZ market analysis was informed by holding a market engagement event to seek market input. The technical challenge of this programme is to apply the innovation in both the design and manufacturing of composite components in areas of the wind turbine systems, which have historically not utilised composites. The DESNZ market analysis has indicated that there is no single organisation able to deliver the niche yet demanding technical scope of Phase 2B, it also showed evidence that a consortium of OREC/NCC has the technical capability to deliver Phase 2B and that a different DP would likely have to subcontract OREC/NCC services to deliver the programme. NCC is the UK’s leading authority on the design and manufacture of composite structures, OREC is the UK’s leading authority on offshore wind, including the component design, validation and supply chain growth of the industry. The combination of the NCC and OREC represents the key technology areas required to deliver the programme, combining composite and offshore wind design, manufacturing and supply chain knowledge. The partnership is actively working on other composites / offshore wind programmes and previously delivered Phase 1 and Phase 2 of this programme. As defined by UK Government, the role of Catapults is to engage with industry to drive and support adoption of new technologies. OREC/NCC are technology and solution agnostic, they work with full supply chain without ties to particular suppliers or manufacturers and they are not-for-profit. The justification for the Single Tender Action (STA) is therefore that competition is absent due to technical reasons, and to provide the combination of skills, integration and neutrality a STA to OREC/NCC, is the most suitable procurement route to achieve the objectives and outcomes of Phase 2B of the programme.