NEWS & INSIGHTS | Opinion
Modular wave energy converter secures funding for trials
Luca Corradi
Luca works to bring “the outside in”, connecting innovators and academics across sectors and disciplines, to explore the latest technologies that could be adopted to address oil and gas industry challenges. Leading The Net Zero Technology Centre’s horizon scanning activity, he identifies emerging technology trends, cutting through the hype to identify potential areas of impact and application. With a background in business and organisational change leadership, Luca has developed a strong network and is passionate about harnessing this to deliver the next generation of the net zero energy industry.
Outside work Luca loves reading, music and travel. He is married with two young daughters and a dog. He enjoys the rare motorbike ride in Scotland and even rarer ski trip on the Alps.
This week’s net zero news: Demand for hydrogen and its derivatives; UK offshore workforce; Zoex Wave Energy Converter
Chief Technology Officer at NZTC, Luca Corradi, and his team closely monitor the global net zero landscape. They follow the trends, policies, investments, and technological innovations that, together, bring the world closer to its shared climate goals. Learn more about our horizon scanning service. This week, Luca and his team look at Climate Exchange’s report findings, trends and forecasts from Robert Gordon University’s ‘Striking the Balance’ report and the Wave Energy Converter by Aberdeen based Zoex.
Climate Exchange report reviews the demand for hydrogen derivatives and products up to 2045
Scotland has abundant renewable energy sources, which provides an opportunity to be a net exporter of hydrogen and its derivatives (chemicals produced by reacting hydrogen with other elements). Industrial clusters across Scotland, England and Wales all provide a large local market, whilst the EU and its member states are unlikely to meet their low-carbon hydrogen demand on their own, creating an export opportunity for Scotland. Subsea hydrogen pipelines, such as the hydrogen backbone link, will be critical to enhancing the competitiveness of Scottish hydrogen for trade within Europe.
Hydrogen can be converted into derivates such as methanol, ammonia and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Ammonia is expected to be the dominant hydrogen derivative in the medium to long term for global trade. Synthetic methanol will be key to decarbonising existing industrial uses of methanol and in initial low-carbon maritime projects, whilst hydrogen-based SAF is well-placed to decarbonise the aviation sector due to compatibility with existing infrastructure, policy support and a lack of commercially viable low-carbon alternatives.
Industry – including oil and biofuel refining, ammonia, and synthetic fuel production – will be the biggest driver of hydrogen demand in 2030 in both the EU and the UK. By 2045, other sectors like aviation, shipping, power generation are also expected to be major players in the hydrogen economy.
Figure: Hydrogen and derivative demand 2045
Source: Climate Exchange, Demand for hydrogen derivatives and products
Robert Gordon University’s ‘Striking the Balance’ report provides trends and forecasts for the UK offshore energy workforce
The North Sea’s future success depends on a well-managed, just transition. Promoting, delivering and securing UK content will be critical in sustaining a world-class offshore energy supply chain and workforce that enables the UK to transition to a low carbon future. This report considers three future energy scenarios: the high case reflects the Clean Power 2030 ambition set by the UK Government and has the highest oil and gas production, the low-case which meets these targets by 2035 and a mid-point scenario.
The UK oil and gas workforce is forecast to drop from 115,000 today to between 57,000 and 71,000 by 2030. Taking the low-case results in a reduction of ~400 jobs – equivalent to the number lost due to the closure of the Grangemouth refinery – every two weeks for the next five years. Before 2027, there is likely to be limited capacity for the renewables sector to accommodate the quantity of oil and gas workers available. The overall UK offshore workforce supply is projected to drop by around 19,000 people to ~135,000 by 2030.
At current investment, commitment and business delivery projections, the likely 2030 UK offshore energy workforce demand is forecast to be between 125,000 and 163,000, but the high case scenario could see a workforce demand of 212,000. The high and medium case scenarios will require recruitment and retraining, whilst the low scenario predominantly requires ongoing re-deployment and retraining rather than additional recruitment.
Figure: UK offshore energy workforce
Source: Robert Gordon University
Aberdeen based Zoex has secured funding to support year-round testing of their wave energy converter
Aberdeen-based Zoex has secured £531,000 in funding to support the development of its wave energy converter (WEC). The funding includes investments from angel syndicate Equity Gap, Scottish Enterprise, the University of Strathclyde and Innovate UK. Following successful trials in Aberdeen harbour, Zoex’s 100kW full-scale wave energy converter prototype will now be tested in Ordu, Turkey for year-round testing under different seasonal conditions. Zoex aim for commercial deployment by the end of 2025.
The Zoex system has been designed for use in aquaculture, offshore wind, oil and gas, CCS subsea infrastructure and port infrastructure. Their system is made up of 20kW or 100kW modular units and can be attached to an existing marine structure. Zoex’s design incorporates an innovative gearing mechanism that enhances power production in small waves, mitigates end-stop problems in large waves and self-limits in storms. This makes it possible to generate energy with sea states of 1m significant wave height. This is important as most WEC require waves of at least 2m, but 80% of ocean’s have a significant wave height of only 1m.
Zoex Wave Energy Converter
Source: Zoex
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