A new report from the UK's leading offshore renewable energy (ORE) experts calls for urgent action to help the UK meet its Net Zero targets.
ORE Outlook 2040 from the Supergen ORE Hub, which is led from Plymouth by a consortium of ten universities including the University of Aberdeen, says the development of energy generation from the sea must be accelerated significantly over the next 16 years.
Hub Director, The University of Plymouth’s Professor Deborah Greaves OBE says: "The UK has abundant offshore wind, wave and tidal energy resources and leads globally in ORE technology, but faster, more focused action is required to ensure we meet Net Zero 2050 targets. Research and innovation is critical—accelerating the optimisation of existing technologies, reducing design uncertainty, and discovering new ways to plan and construct these devices.
“Business as usual is not enough; radical changes are required to ensure we have the innovation needed to upscale the offshore renewable energy sector and to develop the skilled workforce required to meet the needs of the future renewable energy sector."
Aimed at researchers, industry, policymakers, and the public, the report summarises current climate change impacts and the UK’s progress to date on reducing carbon emissions.
It shows the ORE deployment pathways needed to reach Net Zero via a just, sustainable and secure energy transition by 2050 using the year 2040 as a key milestone.
Investment in research and innovation will be the driving force behind the ORE sector’s growth – de-risking new technologies, reducing costs, and improving performance.
And an emphasis on research and innovation is vital for underpinning economic development and enhancing the competitiveness of the UK supply chain, ensuring the country retains its technological leadership on the global stage.
The reports also explores the implications of ORE development through four lenses – planning and consenting; people; supply chain; infrastructure and grid – and adds:
- Achieving 100 GW of offshore wind energy by 2040 is critical for the UK's future energy supply. This requires a nearly 7× increase in capacity, making radical innovation essential to achieve this growth by optimising and scaling up.
- Tidal stream energy is on a similar growth trajectory as offshore wind but needs continued support to maintain this momentum. Over 12 GW of tidal stream and wave energy capacity is projected in UK by 2050, equating to 10% of offshore wind capacity. The UK currently leads the world in wave and tidal technology development, projected to be worth £40bn GVA to the UK economy and reduce energy balancing costs by £1 billion a year.
- While wave energy is not yet commercially deployed, the UK has significant potential, with an estimated exploitable wave energy resource of 25 GW. Investment in wave energy technology research over the next decade is essential to unlock its potential, and the Supergen ORE Hub supports advancements in this field.
Professor Beth Scott from the Univeristy of Aberdeen said: "As a Co-Director of the Supergen ORE, and the Environmental Champion, I am very pleased to see this informative report out today that will help to illuminate the urgent need for innovative, joined-up interdisciplinary approaches across engineering and ecological sciences to accelerate and improve our understanding of ocean interactions while optimising ORE solutions in its critical role in helping us meet Net Zero targets.
"In particular, the Supergen ORE approach is supporting and encouraging innovation in robotics and remote and autonomous systems for data collection along with AI modelling tools for analysis at the spatial level of regional marine ecosystems. We are championing the shared use of infrastructure through hybrid systems and co-location of technologies and activities in the same ocean space.
"These approaches will help reduce the time and cost of survey data collection as the simultaneous sensing of resource data will help optimise the use of data collection resources and the value of surveys and instrumentation. We are also suggesting that these approaches will enable environmental issues to be considered at regional levels to be more able to feedback coherent cumulative effects into individual development Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs)."
The Supergen ORE Hub is led by the University of Plymouth and includes Co-Directors from the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Exeter, Hull, Manchester, Oxford, Southampton, Strathclyde, and Warwick.
It was created by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to deliver strategic and coordinated research on Sustainable Power Generation and supply.