Scottish Enterprise launches North Sea Solutions for Innovation in Corrosion for Energy (NESSIE) project
Scottish Enterprise and its partners are promoting the new flagship NeSSIE project at two major Scottish energy events this month.
The project team are attending both Offshore Europe and the Marine Conference to promote the launch of the project website.
NeSSIE, co-funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund programme of the European Union, will bring companies together in the North Sea to deliver new business and investment opportunities for the oil and gas and wider marine supply chains.
It will support companies across Europe to scope and develop demonstration projects for corrosion solutions and new materials for use in the offshore renewable energy sector. The solutions developed will be targeted at reducing costs and supporting these emerging sectors, building on Scotland’s significant subsea strength and providing new opportunities for participating companies.
Paul Wheelhouse, Scottish Government Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy said:
“Corrosion presents a significant challenge to the offshore renewable energy sector, and that is why I am very pleased to see that Scotland is taking a lead role in helping industry to tackle it.
“We want to utilise our unique subsea infrastructure, and industry and academic expertise gained from both the renewables and oil and gas sectors, to encourage our European neighbours to choose Scotland as the place to collaborate and work together, in order to find innovative solutions to corrosion.
“If successful, the NeSSIE project should create savings across the sector, and, through helping improve the longevity of assets, this assists developers to maximise the production of greener, more affordable energy.”
Maggie McGinley, Director for Energy at Scottish Enterprise said:
“Projects like NeSSIE are a great way for our subsea supply chain to collaborate with European partners to diversify and deliver market ready solutions in emerging markets such as renewables. This project presents a unique opportunity for Scotland’s world leading subsea companies. It’s great to see Scotland leading on this project and capitalising on its tremendous expertise and track record in Energy in the North Sea.”
The project is also supported by the University of Edinburgh which is developing a technology roadmap for corrosion – a critical factor in any offshore activity.
Led by Scottish Enterprise the project has a broad mix of partners from across Europe within the consortium. The partners include Basque Energy Cluster (Spain), ASTER Società Consortile per Azioni (Italy), Sirris, Het Collectief Centrum Van de Technologische Industrie (Belgium), Svenskt Marintekniskt Forum (Sweden), University of Edinburgh (Scotland), FAEN Fundación Asturiana de la Energía (Spain) and Lombardy Energy Cleantech Cluster (Italy).
The project is testament to the partners’ position at the forefront of marine expertise, and to Scotland’s reputation as a key European player in subsea and marine energy.
The project was launched at the 2017 EU Maritime Day in Poole, Dorset, where the project leaders presented NeSSIE to Europe’s maritime community. The website for the project is now live to coincide with the Offshore Europe Conference, work is underway to identify the companies interested in being part of the project and a roadmap is being produced to ascertain the highest impact demonstration projects to be developed.
If you are a company within any of the partner regions mentioned above and with an interest in the field of corrosion and materials in subsea environments, please get in touch with Mark or Jan below to find out more about the wider plans for the project.
Further contacts: mark.georgeson@scotent.co.uk and jan.reid@scotent.co.uk