The
money,
which
will
be
drawn
from
the
business
development
bodies’
existing
R&D
and
Innovation
coffers,
is
earmarked
for
areas
including
installation,
operation
and
maintenance
(IOM)
of
wind
farms,
with
the
focus
on
improved
turbine
component
quality
and
reliability;
new
technologies
to
streamline
installation
and
access;
and
novel
approaches
to
offshore
logistics.
Installation
of
turbines
currently
accounts
for
11%
of
the
cost
of
producing
offshore
wind
energy,
according
to
Scottish
Enterprise
figures,
while
operations
and
maintenance
is
responsible
for
19%.
“Essentially
if
an
idea
has
merit
we
will
then
sit
down
with
a
company
to
discuss
its
initial
expression
of…
