A BRITISH cleantech company supporting the global transition to Net Zero is celebrating two major contract wins.
Kinewell Energy has signed deals with two global renewable energy producers for the procurement of its award-winning KLOC software.
The six-figure, multi-year contracts, will see the two European renewable energy giants utilise the software during the development of all future offshore wind farms globally.
The company already works with some of the world’s largest renewable energy producers, such as Equinor and SSE Renewables, and it is confident this latest success will act as a catalyst for further growth.
Dr Andrew Jenkins, founder and CEO of Kinewell Energy, said: “We are thrilled to be welcoming these two new customers into the Kinewell family.
“Our KLOC software has played a key role in the development of some of the world’s largest offshore wind farms over recent years, and these partnerships will allow us to help even more communities reap the benefits of greener, cheaper energy.”
Launched in 2015, Kinewell Layout Optimisation of Cable (KLOC) utilises AI-powered technology to rapidly design optimised inter-array cable layouts for both fixed and floating offshore wind farms.
Helping engineers calculate the best place to lay cables, the software reduces the cost of the cable system by around 20%. This is achieved through reduced cable length and reduced energy loss meaning more clean power reaches communities supplied by the wind farm. The technology also shaves months off of the wind farm development process, making it quicker and more affordable for developers the world-over to transition to renewable energy.
“Should the UN achieve its ambition of global emissions reaching Net Zero by 2050, then it is estimated that annual clean energy investment worldwide will need to triple to a staggering £4 trillion by 2030,” Andrew added.
“However rising interest rates, inflation and material costs have led to development costs spiralling in recent years, meaning developers have become more conservative about how they approach projects.
“This is what has made KLOC even more appealing. Whereas traditionally our clients would utilise the software once they had secured planning, many of our clients are now factoring it into their development costs from the outset.
“By being able to swiftly design concept studies and bring down project costs through using KLOC, it makes tenders more competitive and can help secure projects as well as financing their development”
Five new hires have joined Kinewell Energy over the past few months – supported by funding from the Technology, Innovation & Green Growth for Offshore Renewables (TIGGOR) fund – and with more projects in the pipeline, Andrew is confident about the future.
He said: “We’ve introduced two more solutions to market over the past 18 months in the form of KDOTS and KWOTA, which help streamline the wind farm export system design and optimise the turbine layout which further increases energy yields.
“Both KDOTS and KWOTA solutions have received glowing feedback from our clients who have utilised each product so far, and as global take-up continues to increase, this will only lead to a need to continue growing our headcount and delivering more green jobs for the North East of England.”
