Aberdeen’s Xodus to front floating wind farm project involving Scottish universities

Global energy consultancy Xodus Group has launched a three-year collaborative research project in partnership with three universities to try and drive down the costs of floating wind farms.

Scott Hamilton, renewables division manager at Aberdeen-headquartered Xodus.

The three-year study, led by Xodus through the Idcore programme, involves the universities of Edinburgh, Strathclyde and Exeter as well as the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).

Xodus said the project would be key to ensuring floating wind can be a “serious contender” in the energy mix and would result in a tool designed to assist in key decision making for such projects.

It will also create guidance to assist with project finance decision making and to “reduce uncertainties in floating offshore wind energy yield assessments”.

The study will explore the impacts of floating structures on modelling wind resource and incorporating the impact of ocean conditions on site considerations.

Scott Hamilton, the firm’s renewables division manager, said: “We have a strong track record of engaging with leading academic research and are proud to be leading this collaborative project in floating offshore wind. It’s important for us to be investing in future skills that the industry needs.

“We are openly inviting developers to engage with us on this project from the outset, and we expect the outcomes to provide much needed innovative research in this area and deliver benefits to the wider wind industry.”

Headquartered in Aberdeen, with a global operations centre in London, Xodus has offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Orkney, Egypt, Perth, Australia and Boston and Houston in the US.

The Idcore programme addresses future challenges to develop new technologies and train world-class scientists and engineers essential for the UK to sustain its global status in the offshore renewable energy sector.

It is centred on a doctoral training centre aiming to train 50 engineering doctorate students over a nine-year period in total, admitting about ten new students each year for five years.

Xodus is already invested in the initiative, with two of its consultants having gained their doctorates through the scheme. With support from the company’s technical team, the research will be carried out by Ben Smith, a graduate from University College London.

Last month, Xodus Group said it had appointed a US renewables vice president to head up a new office in Boston as the firm looks to grow its offshore wind services across North America.

Alexander Thillerup joins Xodus from Aegir Wind Solutions, where he was director of project management. He has more than 15 years’ experience in the renewables industry.

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