A North Tyneside tech start-up is predicting huge growth after landing a contract to help develop one of the world’s largest offshore wind developments.
Kinewell Energy – launched by Dr Andrew Jenkins in 2015 when he was a PhD student at Newcastle University – has sealed the deal with Big Six energy supplier SSE Renewables to map out its Berwick Bank Wind Farm development. The wind farm, in the Outer Firth of Forth, has the potential to deliver up to 4.1 GW of installed capacity, meaning it will be able to power more than five million homes and become one of the largest projects of its kind, anywhere in the world.
Since its launch, Kinewell Energy’s KLOC (Kinewell Layout Optimisation of Cable) software solution – which will be deployed by SSE Renewables at Berwick Bank - has been used across the globe. The system typically saves offshore wind developers in the region of 20% of the cable cost over the project life, by playing ‘dot-to-dot’ to find the most cost-effective way of linking up turbines with cable to collect the energy generated.
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The tool uses cloud computing and is accessed via an intuitive web-app, so Software as a Service (SaaS) clients can access KLOC at any time using a desktop, laptop, tablet or even their mobile phone.
Dr Jenkins said: “We founded Kinewell Energy with the aim of substantially reducing the cost of offshore wind cable systems through innovative use of advanced mathematical algorithms. We have significantly sped up and improved the process of designing cable layouts for offshore windfarms and we have been blown away by the successes we’ve recorded so far.
“Over the past five years, we have worked with some of the world’s biggest energy producers and it’s not unusual for our team to add value to offshore wind projects of around US$50m, so we’re delighted to be working with SSE Renewables on a project which is so close to home.
“As a 4.1GW project, Berwick Bank will not only be one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, but it will also play a key role in helping the UK achieve its Net Zero ambitions, and we’re all incredibly proud to be playing a part in its development.”
The KLOC software solution has already been successfully deployed on developments across Europe, Japan, South Korea, the USA and China, but Berwick Bank will be one of the company’s largest projects to date. Dr Jenkins says the North Shields-based team is set expand as more deals roll in.
He said: “Our growth trajectory is doubling every year, and if this continues as we expect it will, we anticipate creating up to 70 new jobs over the next three years. We’re also proud that the diversity of our workforce already meets the offshore wind industry’s 2030 target, and we want to go even further to achieve a workforce that is truly representative of society and help more people explore careers in this exciting and incredibly rewarding industry.
“Early projections estimate that Berwick Bank could create over 9,000 jobs and potentially boost the UK economy by £8.3bn by generating enough clean, renewable energy to power over five million homes, making it a hugely significant project. It is absolutely essential that projects such as Berwick Bank are rapidly progressed if the UK and Scottish Governments are to meet their 2030 targets for offshore wind growth. In the wake of COP27, it was laid bare just how much we need to reboot global climate policy and we’re delighted that our unique technology, which has been developed right here in the North East of England, is helping power such globally significant infrastructure projects.”
The development of Kinewell’s KLOC software solution was supported by funding from the North of Tyne Combined Authority’s (NTCA) TIGGOR programme, delivered by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult.
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