The Scottish Government has provided funding support towards a renewable energy research project.

ORE Catapult acquired the Levenmouth 7MW demonstration offshore wind turbine from Samsung Heavy Industries in December last year.

The Govt has now granted £215,000 towards the £450,000 research project, which will see ORE Catapult develop a digital clone of the turbine.

The clone will use sensor instrumentation to advance the industry's understanding of how large megawatt turbines behave as well as identifying cost reduction opportunities through design optimisation.

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Cian Conroy, ORE Catapult's Sector Lead, Wind, said: "With the rapid scale in growth of offshore wind turbines, with 8MW machines now being readily deployed and the industry looking to develop 10MW turbines, industry needs to rethink and revalidate assumptions associated with offshore wind turbine designs.

"Deploying sensors on the Levenmouth turbine gives us a unique opportunity to understand the behaviour of a large turbine in real-world conditions, and benefit the industry, its supply chain and academia. Having a validated model is crucial for understanding the impact of design decisions in the weight and cost of different components of the turbine."

(LM/MH)