The activities carried out by the project will pertain to the following priority R&I areas:

1. Industrialisation, scale-up and competitiveness: mass production supported by automation and reliable supply chains, design for large volume manufacturing and deployment, design for reliable and lasting products and improved construction and installation methods, digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) in industrial environment.
2. Optimisation and further digitalisation of operation and maintenance: integration of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, advanced repair methodologies and new sensor technologies, interoperability among wind farm sub-systems, advanced communication technologies and cybersecurity, innovative component replacement solutions and quick connect/disconnect systems for mooring lines and inter-array cables.
3. Wind energy system integration: definition and modelling of future system needs, advanced grid capabilities, interoperability, solutions to effectively manage curtailment, integration with energy storage technologies and hybrid plants, distributed wind energy.
4. Sustainability and circularity: material substitution for decarbonisation, material reduction, recycling methods, lifetime extension via re-using, refurbishing and re-purposing, new decommissioning tools and methods and solutions to minimise the environmental and biodiversity impacts and optimise the socio-economic impacts.
5. Floating offshore wind: development and demonstration of innovative technologies for offshore floating wind. Development of optimised floating wind energy systems through the integrated design of the different elements of the system, including the floater and the generation part.
6. Research and technology infrastructures for wind energy: upgrade of existing and establishment of new infrastructures and test centres for the sector. An area of particular interest in this domain are large-scale testing facilities for offshore floating wind energy systems.
7. Wind energy systems interactions with climate, atmosphere, ocean and geophysics: geophysical characteristics measuring and modelling, wake effect model development, climate change impact analysis
8. Environmental and social aspects, coexistence: evolution of environmental impact assessments, spatial planning, biodiversity solutions, reduced pollution (e.g. noise and vibration, pollution due to erosion of the blades), design and implementation of practices and platforms that facilitate inclusive communication and stakeholders’ involvement, tools to map stakeholder concerns and development of practical approaches to lifecycle public participation, socialisation of wind rights, relationship between people, technology and places for all relevant social issues
9. Emerging technologies: new concept assessment and development (e.g. multirotor concepts, tip rotor designs, ducted turbines), improved performance and efficiency of emerging/innovative wind energy systems

Structure, breakdown of activities and budget allocation

The action consists of activities directly implemented by the consortium and activities implemented through financial support to third parties. The R&I activities are divided into three challenges:

1. Breakthrough challenge
2. Validation challenge
3. Demonstration challenge

The breakthrough and the validation challenge can be carried out both through activities directly implemented by the core consortium and through FSTP activities.

The breakthrough challenge entails actions to develop new and potentially disruptive solutions, tools and new knowledge to increase the competitiveness of the wind energy sector and on the acceleration of wind energy deployment at scale both off- and onshore, including with experimental proof of concept, as well as with validation both in laboratory and relevant environment, as appropriate. Concepts and technologies initially developed through the breakthrough challenge could be further matured through the validation challenge.

The validation challenge entails actions to validate technologies, tools and innovative solutions, both in a laboratory and in a relevant environment that have been developed in the project but also developed previously and separately in other European and national projects. For the validation, the project can consider different use cases (e.g. onshore, offshore).

The demonstration challenge entails demonstration activities to accelerate the take up of innovation by the industry, in line with the priorities set by the SET Plan (activities up to TRL 7-8). It will solely be implemented by the core consortium.

The total maximum amount of EU funding for the demonstration activities is expected to be 50 million Euros.

The project is expected to implement at least 3 demonstration activities. The focus of each demonstration activity should be clearly different from each other. The proposed solutions should be demonstrated for a continuous period of at least 6 months.

The project is expected to include a clear go/no go milestone, for each demonstration activity, before entering the deployment phase. Before each go/no-go milestone, the project is expected to show evidence of having in place i) all needed permits for deployment, ii) complete, detailed and realistic engineering plans, compliant with the applicable standards and iii) a complete business and implementation plan. The project proposal is expected to present a clear and convincing pathway to obtain necessary permits for the demonstration activities and allow for appropriate timelines to achieve these. The project proposal is also expected to demonstrate how it will get a financial close for each demonstration activity. For this, the use of other EU/national/regional support mechanisms can be considered.

Privileged research and innovation areas for the demonstration challenge are the ones listed from a. to f. in the scope: a. industrialisation, scale-up and competitiveness, b. optimisation and further digitalisation of operation and maintenance, c. wind energy system integration, d. sustainability and circularity, e. floating offshore wind and f. research and technology infrastructures for wind energy.