4EI Enters the Offshore Renewable Energy Market, Aiding the Implementation of Vital New Technology Enabled by Space Data

Kicking off with a feasibility study focused on Floating Offshore Wind in Cornwall, 4EI will be directly engaging the end-user community on a collaborative co-developed service that will support the UK’s Net Zero Carbon ambitions. This comes at a particularly important time as the UK is set to host both the G7 and COP26 summits this year.

The UK is rapidly expanding it’s offshore wind energy capability, with a target of 40 Gigawatts of energy produced from offshore wind by 2030. Data is critical in the offshore environment and at all stages of the offshore renewables project lifecycle, spanning pre-consent to decommissioning - but it’s acquisition presents a key bottleneck to expanding energy production. 4EI’s service will alleviate this bottleneck by utilising space data, an objective, repeatable and consistent source of information across the whole environment, which can be accessed remotely.

“4EI are delighted to be continuing our expansion and building on our legacy of delivering innovative space-based data services through collaborative projects. This is an important project for the renewable energy industry, and Cornwall is an incredibly exciting environment to test and prove a range of complementary technologies”, says Richard Flemmings, Chief Technical Officer for 4EI.

4EI is being supported by Marine-i, a programme which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and helps the marine tech sector In Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly grow through harnessing the full potential of research and Innovation. 4EI will collaborate with Marine-i partners the University of Exeter, University of Plymouth and Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult on the feasibility study.