ORE Catapult and Tus Extend China Collaboration

The parties will cooperate in the Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Revitalization Plan, jointly developing marine renewable energy technology and cooperation between China and Britain. Qingdao is an important coastal economic centre in Shandong Province, close to the TUS-ORE Catapult Research Centre (TORC), opened in March of this year.

ORE Catapult CEO, Andrew Jamieson, said: “This new collaboration is an important and very welcome next step in growing our presence in China. We expect it to facilitate further joint research programmes and support market entry and incubation for UK businesses in China through demonstration of new technologies on a 300MW windfarm in the Shandong Province.”

Charlie Du, President of TUS Triple Helix and TUS Clean Energy Senior President, said: “Shandong Province will be one of the biggest offshore wind energy markets in China. This four-party collaboration is another milestone achieved by ORE Catapult and Tuspark in their UK-China offshore renewable energy partnership, after the successful establishment of TORC. Tuspark and the Catapult will continue working closely together to promote UK technology application in China, to the benefit of human welfare.”

China is predicted to become the world’s largest offshore wind market by 2030, with the Chinese Government investing $100bn in wind power projects by 2020 and aiming to install 5GW of offshore wind in the South China Sea, with a further 10GW in planning.

Also today, UK wind company Anakata signed an MOU with TUS Wind, Qingdao Government and TUS Triple Helix to progress innovative rotor blade technology in the Chinese market – a relationship which was brought together by TORC.