ORE leads digital transformation collaboration

A joint initiative with the Digital Catapult, the Forum was formally launched in February 2020 and is chaired by Mike Anderson, co-founder and ex-Chief Technical Officer for RES, and current Chair of ETIPWind. It brings together wind owners/operators and asset managers including BayWa, Vattenfall, Innogy, Natural Power and Wood, with academia and small innovators, such as Cognitive Business and Cyberscape, to drive forward the sector’s digital transformation.

The group’s work will build on the ORE Catapult's extensive experience and existing portfolio of wind related digital and data initiatives such as SPARTA, WEBS and POD and will focus on four key strategic work programmes:

• Cyber Security – investigating the importance and ease with which security could be breached, especially with the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) technology being used by data owners and their supply chain.
• Data Maturity – looking at how data owners use data within their businesses and the proliferation of data analytics to improve performance and reduce operational costs.
• Data Integration – in conjunction with the data landscape programme developed by ORE Catapult and Accenture, this workstream will investigate systems and operational data “touch points” within data owners.
• Digital Supply Chain Engagement – engaging with the Digital Catapult to translate wind industry challenges and market opportunities into the technical language of the digital supply chain, whilst mapping the best-in-class game changers in IoT, artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

The outcomes from the three work programmes will be available exclusively to WDIF members.

Vattenfall Head of Offshore Wind, and Chair of WindEurope, Gunnar Groebler, said: “Digitalisation is at the top of our agenda. It will offer us a large potential for further cost improvement, for example via the development of data-driven models and operations for the maintenance of our wind farms. Our company is focussed on continuous automation, especially with regard to the operation of our assets optimised for the electricity markets.”  

George Garforth from Innogy added: “The WDIF is an exciting collaborative approach to developing digital solutions to the problems faced in wind farm operations. The Forum facilitates collaboration between operators and technology firms on key digital topics such as data integration, cyber security and artificial intelligence. This feels like an opportunity to make genuine progress in an area which desperately needs it.”