UK Businesses Collaborate to Meet China’s Low Carbon Energy Demand

Eight UK organizations have signed significant new agreements to develop and provide renewable energy technologies, services and research in China, at a virtual ceremony hosted in Yantai City, Shandong Province.

The eight innovators, from backgrounds as diverse as Formula 1, robotics, oil and gas, marine energy and digital, have all been supported by TORC, the joint venture research and incubation centers established in March 2019 by the UK’s Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and China’s Tus Wind.

Anakata Wind Power Ltd, the Oxford-based aerodynamics specialists with a pedigree in Formula 1 design, has created Tus-Aero, a 50:50 joint venture company with Tus-Wind, to develop and supply its performance improving aerodynamic blade add-ons. Anakata has been working with TORC for the past year and has installed its technology on a number of Chinese onshore windfarms, proving a potential 6% annual energy increase on the world’s most installed turbine, with over 22,000 in operation in China.

Six further UK companies have signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with TORC to develop collaborative projects for the Chinese market:

Aleron Group, Aberdeen-based specialists in remotely operated vehicles for the oil and gas industry, they design and manufacture advanced subsea robotic systems and will bring their MultiRov product to the Chinese market.

Blueprint Subsea, based in Cumbria, design and manufacture products for the offshore, subsea and commercial diving markets, aiming to bring the latest advances in technology to our customers at an affordable cost without comprising on quality or function.

Logan Energy, Edinburgh-based experts in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, designing, installing, commissioning, and maintaining integrated energy systems across the UK and Europe.

Miros Scotland, Aberdeen-based technology company with more than 35 years of experience providing sensors and systems for environmental monitoring to the global offshore and maritime industry. Miros delivers accurate, real-time, local wave and weather data on- or offshore and on any device.  Miros has been collaborating with ORE Catapult since 2019.

REOptimize Systems, an Edinburgh-based start-up born from the Institute of Energy Systems (IES), delivering a system-wide approach to the optimization of control settings of wind turbines, using machine learning & holistic system simulation. They will collaborate with TORC on bringing a wind turbine performance assessment and optimization service to market in China.

ZOEX Wave Power, a wave energy technology developer based in Aberdeen, has designed a modular device to be attached to existing structures such as breakwaters, offshore wind platforms and aquaculture farms. They will collaborate with TORC to identify manufacture and demonstration partners in Asia.

In addition, a new academic research partnership has been formed, with an MOU between TORC and Harbin Engineering University (HEU) /Exeter University. Prof. Lars Johanning is in charge of the HEU Yantai research activities and a leading academic in marine renewables in the UK. His team will collaborate on developing an international academic / industry partnership to develop marine renewables.