Overview

The Portuguese Government has approved the Industrial Strategy for Ocean Renewable Energies (EI-ERO) with the aim of developing the country’s offshore wind potential. According to EI-ERO, offshore renewable energies have the potential to supply 25% of the electricity consumed annually in Portugal and create a new export chain in these new technologies. The government envisages that potential exports in this field could increase up to ten times the current employment in the active sectors, with the greatest potential for exports seen in the development of the floating wind technology.

The overall objective of TWIND is to create a network of excellence that will dynamize a pool of specialized research professionals and trainers in the domain of offshore wind energy to support an emerging industry in Portugal in a field with a very strong anticipated growth and no dedicated existing training curriculum.

The project aims to raise the research profile of WavEC, as an institution from a so-called Widening Country (Portugal), as well as the research profile of its staff, in the specific field of offshore wind energy, enhancing at the same time the scientific and technological capacity of all the institutions involved. It does so by coordinating efforts and enhancing excellence and innovation capacity through the exchange of knowledge with the above mentioned  internationally-leading counterparts at the EU level (Spain, UK and The Netherlands). The combining capabilities of partners will open the grounds to exploit existing research results and invest in developing further knowledge.

The networking activities and exchange of knowledge will stimulate research activities and highly qualified services that impact the economy and the society, thus benefitting not only WavEC and the partner organisations, but Portugal at large. It will further dynamize field activities in the Portuguese offshore test sites with impact at regional level.

TWIND is aligned with several National and European priorities, namely the UK government’s Industrial Strategy, the Portuguese Industrial Strategy for Ocean Renewable Energies, published in 2017, and the SET-Plan Offshore Wind Implementation Plan, adopted in June 2018, establishing a consolidation path for WavEC’s strategy in this area and stimulating the development of a supply chain in Portugal for floating offshore wind.

Activities

•  Capacitation & Networking: Enhance Scientific and Technological skills in the Portuguese offshore wind sector, ensuring that senior staff in the field are equipped with sector leading knowledge and skills and are thus able to stimulate and support a thriving, new offshore wind sector in Portugal.
• Training & Mentorship: Develop skills of early stage researchers and staff to increase employability in the field of offshore wind energy in Portugal.
• Stakeholders Engagement: Dissemination of Research and Development (R&D) opportunities and challenges among offshore wind stakeholders in Portugal, identifying how they can benefit from R&D in early stages and which are the main barriers.
• Dissemination & Public Outreach: Make the R&D community aware of the TWIND project, by dissemination of project results.