SPONSORS OF INDUSTRY NEWS
NEW EEEGR CHIEF APPOINTED
Simon Gray, currently Chief Executive of Wells Community Hospital, is to be the new ‘face’ of EEEGR, the East of England Energy Group.
Mr Gray takes over as Chief Executive from EEEGR founder John Best who stepped down earlier this year.
A former Chief Executive of the East Anglian Air Ambulance and having held senior positions in the publishing world, Mr Gray said he was ‘champing at the bit’ to take on his new role from June 11th.
He was sad to leave Wells Hospital and intended to continue his support for its work by becoming a voluntary unpaid trustee. But he would be joining EEEGR at an exciting and busy time.
DECC GRANT FOR OSBIT POWER TO DEVELOP FUTURE OFFSHORE ACCESS TECHNOLOGY
Innovative North East engineering company, OSBIT Power (OP), has been confirmed as a successful bidder to a major Government scheme to support manufacturers developing next generation offshore wind technology.
Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said: “The coalition is determined to drive ambitious green growth and this is putting our money where our mouth is. This cash shows we are delivering on our commitment to support innovation and offshore wind. Making wind turbines more efficient is common sense and will help bring down the costs making them more attractive to build and helping us increase the amount of electricity we get from clean, green sources. It’s great to see OSBIT Power Ltd stepping up to the challenge to ensure offshore wind energy is produced in the most cost effective way”
FUNDING GRANT
OP, based in Riding Mill, Northumberland has been awarded a £615,000 grant to help develop its MaXccess offshore wind access technology to facilitate safe personnel transfer from the larger dynamically positioned vessels that are expected to be used on future offshore wind projects.
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www.windenergynetwork.co.uk INNOVATION
Dr Tony Trapp, CEO of OSBIT Power comments: “We established OP in 2010 with the aim of creating a step change in offshore access technologies. During the subsequent 18 months our team of innovative engineers developed the MaXccess 11 system to solve the current
OFFSHORE WIND COMPONENT TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION SCHEME The funding award is being made under DECC and the Technology Strategy Board’s Offshore Wind Component Technologies Development and
SUPPLY CHAIN DEVELOPMENT AND SKILLS FOR ENERGY PROGRAMME Major opportunities of more than £271bn are mapped out for the region’s energy supply chain and to ensure that such opportunities are not missed, EEEGR is working with SMEs through the supply chain development programme, part funded by the European Regional Development Fund. There are also exciting initiatives from EEEGR’s Skills for Energy programme, including the new EPISCentre training hub to be built in the area.
“With EEEGR, I want to ensure that this region is at the forefront of the energy industry. We must also make sure that if any international business is looking to inwardly invest into the UK, our region comes out top when they begin their search,” he said.
“We need to make sure we seize the business opportunities and the new jobs that any investment into energy would bring to this region. It will be a challenge and we must embrace the wide-ranging interests across an all-energy sector.”
EEEGR2012 SUMMER CONFERENCE Mr Gray said his first aim would be to meet as many EEEGR stakeholders and members as possible to assess their views – and he would be opening the group’s flagship summer conference, EEEGR2012, at Trinity Park, Ipswich, on Wednesday July 11th.
A CHANGE OF DIRECTION
Accepting that his new role was a change of direction, Mr Gray said: “I’m not a helicopter pilot but I ran the Air Ambulance; I’m not a clinician but I ran a hospital; I’m not a journalist but I was in key publishing roles. I think my strength is in managing
challenge of gaining safer, more weather tolerant, access from the existing fleet of vessels used to access wind turbines.
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Following a rapid development programme, the first MaXccess 11 system was produced in summer 2011. This system has recently been successfully trialled offshore in Norway in conjunction with Siemens Wind Power and Statoil, proving its ability to provide safer, more weather tolerant access.
Dr Trapp continued, “For future offshore wind projects larger vessels will be needed, operating further from shore, in more difficult sea conditions. To meet the challenge of gaining access to turbines from these vessels OP is developing MaXccess - Heavy Boat System (HBS). MaXccess HBS builds on the technology developed in the current MaXccess system, to allow operation from dynamically positioned vessels that are too large to contact turbines directly.”
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