Tony Quinn Technology Director at ORE highlights the scale of testing facilities required for the next generation of offshore wind turbines to the Secretary of State for International Trade, Kemi Badenoch and Pensana Chairman, Paul Atherley.

Pensana was represented at the Green Trade Investment Summit this week attended by Kemi Badenoch the new Secretary of State for International Trade as part of a UK Government delegation of inward investors in the clean energy sector.

What came out of the summit was the scale of the projects being developed. Saltend is currently being connected by HVDC cable to the world’s biggest offshore wind farm, the £9 billion, 3.6 GW Dogger Bank development.

This is part of the 50 GW of capacity planned by 2030 for the UK portion of the North Sea alone. When the developments elsewhere in the North Sea and other European coastal waters are included, it adds up to the biggest energy installation in history.

Pensana has entered into a study partnership with Equinor for the recycling of the 13 MW Haliade-X wind turbine nacelles at Saltend, using low-carbon hydrogen.

Whilst these turbines are massive, the next generation will have a blade length of 185 metres, a blade tip speed of 200 miles per hour with each turbine generating over 30MW.

The speed and scale of these developments come on top of the demand for magnet metal rare earths from the automotive sector. 

It is clear that we have not yet fully grasped the speed and scale of developments in that industry.

There are going to be more examples of automotive OEMs going upstream to secure raw materials. The reports of Tesla looking to invest in Glencore comes as no surprise, nor were the recent overtures by Ford and others to Australian Lithium mine project developers.

One thing both industries are making very clear is that they cannot, or will not be allowed to, rely solely on China to meet their demand for critical raw materials.

Any company that develops mid-stream separation capacity outside China is going to be in very strong demand.

Pensana has enviable access to both the automotive and wind turbine sectors and we believe that there will be an overwhelming demand for its independent and sustainable, (ultra-low carbon) products.

Click here to view to Trade Secretary’s speech at the Green Trade & Investment Expo

For further information, please contact, CEO Tim George or Chairman Paul Atherley at contact@pensana.co.uk or visit www.pensana.co.uk