Cleantech firm secures double contract win

A North East cleantech company is celebrating a series of new contract wins with global renewable energy companies.

Newcastle-based Kinewell has secured agreements with Japanese energy giant TEPCO Renewable Power and offshore wind platform developer Marine Power Systems (MPS) to use its ForeCoast® Marine software.

The software helps offshore wind developers simulate marine operations and assess how projects would have performed under real-world weather and operational conditions across previous seasons.

Kinewell acquired ForeCoast® Marine earlier this year as part of its strategy to expand its offshore wind software offering.

The technology can help developers, contractors and operators better forecast project risks, improve decision-making and reduce costs during offshore wind development.

Tony Appleton, chief commercial officer at Kinewell, said: “We are thrilled to have entered into strategic partnerships with MPS and TEPCO RP for the deployment of the ForeCoast Marine software.

“Both organisations work on incredibly complex, high-value projects where precision, quality and schedule discipline are crucial to success and ForeCoast® Marine will provide their teams with the tools and advice required to make the most informed, evidence-based decisions.

“We look forward to working with them to realise their investment ambitions and further support the global transition to green energy.”

TEPCO Renewable Power, part of one of Japan’s largest energy providers, is aiming to generate more than 60 per cent of its electricity from carbon-free power sources within the next decade, with offshore wind expected to play a major role in that transition.

Ryunosuke Naito, of TEPCO RP, added: “We use ForeCoast Marine as part of our efforts to optimise offshore construction schedules, enabling us to analyse even complex construction sequences. 

“As a result, we can efficiently evaluate offshore installation cycles that have a significant cost impact and are critical to project success, greatly improving the clarity of schedule assessments for both ongoing and new projects.”

Marine Power Systems, meanwhile, is developing deepwater offshore wind platform systems and has used ForeCoast® Marine to evaluate offshore installation and turbine integration methods.

Dr Stephen Norris, operations director at MPS, added: “Using ForeCoast has allowed us to gain feedback regarding the likely impact on marine operations at an early stage in the development process, bringing forward these critical insights. 

“More recently we have used ForeCoast to assist developers to understand the improvements in overall project timescales and costs using our technology which has been incredibly helpful for both parties.”

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