Researcher to examine Circular Economy opportunities for Berwick Bank Wind Farm

How Circular Economy (CE) is integrated into offshore wind farms will be explored as part of a new study being conducted for the Berwick Bank Wind Farm project.

SSE Renewables has appointed EngD student Eve Andrews to research how the application of CE principles can improve resource efficiency, reduce waste, and deliver financial benefits to offshore wind projects.

Eve Andrews

Eve is part of the IDCORE programme, a collaborative partnership between The University of Edinburgh, University of Exeter, Strathclyde University, and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), which trains Engineering Doctorate (EngD) students in the field of offshore renewables.

Located in the North Sea, in the outer Firth of Forth, Berwick Bank Offshore Wind Farm has the potential to deliver up to 4.1 GW of installed capacity, making it one of the largest offshore opportunities in the world.

Berwick Bank Wind Farm is in the development stage, but once consented could deliver as much as £4.1 billion to the Scottish economy over the lifetime of the project, while cutting millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year according to a new report.

Once complete, which could be by 2030, it will be a critical contributor towards meeting Scottish Government targets of 11GW of new offshore wind energy supply by 2030.

Offshore wind is a vital element in meeting the Scottish Government’s target of Net Zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045.

Eve, who recently started with SSE Renewables, will pay particular attention to the socio-economic and environmental benefits of using circular economy principles on wind farms and assess the long-term sustainability including recycling, lifetime extension and refurbishment of wind farm components. 

Eve added: “The project is in its early stages, and a variety of models and methods are being considered, but it is very encouraging to see SSE Renewables placing CE principles in its development process for Berwick Bank.”

Berwick Bank project director Alex Meredith said: “We are very much looking forward to seeing the results of Eve’s research. Berwick Bank will be at the forefront the UK’s transition to greener energy supplies. Given its size and scale, assessing how we can integrate CE principles into the project life-cycle could be significant in allowing the offshore sector to grow and meet our energy needs in a sustainable way.”