Fri, 01 March, 2024
The Innovate UK-funded RapidWeld project, of which TWI was a consortium partner, has won at the Energy Institute's International Energy Technology award 2024.
The International Energy Awards (formerly the EI Awards) celebrated their 25th anniversary this year with a new focus on celebrating the most critical aspects of the global energy transition.
The RapidWeld project consortium were delighted to be honoured at the International Energy Week Dinner on 29 February, 2024, in London.
CVE and partners celebrate winning at the International Energy Awards - organised by the Energy Institute. Pictured left to right: Nick Wayth, CEO of the Energy Institute; Martin Ferreira, Senior Vice President, Offshore Wind Continental Europe, Masdar; Carol Johnston from TWI; Marcio Militisky from SSE; Bart Theunissen from SifNetherlands; Bob Nicolson, Managing Director of CVE; Chris Punshon, Head of New Energy Applications at CVE; and Juliet Davenport, President of the Energy Institute
About RapidWeld
RapidWeld began in 2020 with a group of project partners (TWI, Sif, SSE Renewables and Cambridge Vacuum Engineering) coming together to validate and qualify local vacuum electron beam welding (LVEB) for use in offshore wind structures.
Wind energy itself delivers clean energy, and LVEB welding further enhances the environmental benefits, with great reductions in energy use compared to conventional welding techniques.
LVEB also offers the opportunity for huge productivity increases, with a single Dogger Bank monopile taking just 50 hours to weld, in a single pass, compared to the usual 897 hours and multiple passes with submerged arc welding. It also dramatically reduces the impact on the environment, using only 859 kg of CO2 compared to 30,484 kg of CO2 with conventional arc welding.
Next Steps
The RapidWeld project was the start of TWI’s journey to assist the wind industry to meet the global targets for fabrication of offshore wind structures. TWI has now launched a joint industry project (JIP) to develop LVEB welding further and validate out-of-chamber electron beam welding for the fabrication of offshore wind turbine support structures.
This JIP builds upon the work of the RapidWeld project and will generate the additional fatigue and mechanical properties data required to gain approval of the EB welding process for use in wind turbine support structures by certification body DNV.
Contact us below to find out how to join the JIP, or to discuss how electron beam technologies can help save time, costs, and energy in your application in your industry.
The RapidWeld project has received funding from Innovate UK under No 71824