Guest blog: RS group STEM project targets net zero skills gap

Offshore wind will play a substantial and critical role in the generation of clean energy, taking energy from the force of winds at sea and transforming it into electricity to supply to onshore networks. RS is committed to addressing environmental and social issues, and as part of our 2030 Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) Action Plan, we have big ambitions to significantly grow our presence in the offshore wind sector. 

We also know that in the face of a severe skills gap for delivering the net-zero transition at the pace required, the need to spark interest in this sector at the right educational level is vital, if those skills are to be replenished and grown. It’s a mission we feel passionate about.

To support this mission, RS approached Kinewell Energy, a UK-based firm creating state-of-the-art software tools using advanced mathematics and AI that automate the design of new offshore wind farms. Kinewell’s tools enhance productivity and deliver lower cost offshore wind designs. Led by Dr Andrew Jenkins, Kinewell Energy is recognised as a ‘gamechanger’ by RenewableUK’s Global Offshore Wind Awards. The company’s flagship product is KLOC, which optimises the ‘dot-to-dot’ cable layout linking the turbines to the offshore substation in the most economical way. The substation then collects the power before transmission to shore and distribution to our homes. KLOC typically saves around 20 per cent of the cable cost over a project’s life, where the cables represent around 11 per cent of the total offshore wind farm cost.

The vision was to develop a schools-friendly version of KLOC, to inspire students at secondary and further education level in this growing and vital sector. Kinewell had already ventured into this area: it delivered lectures on the maths behind its technology at the Royal Institution’s Masterclass initiative, and took a non-digital version of the schools cable layout optimisation concept to 2022 STEMFest in Newcastle, where up to 3,000 pupils trialled the ideas.

Now, with RS funding and support, the initiative is to be revived in a digital way, re-coding the commercial version of KLOC to create a new product that is a student-friendly educational tool. The schools version must be engaging, and useable within the school curriculum – as well as being a conversation starter for the whole industry. And start that conversation it must: an independent report of the offshore wind champion cites a need to increase the skills pool threefold, from the current 27,000 to at least 100,000 employees by the end of the decade, to meet the ambition of 50GW by 2030. To deliver change of this scale will require a collaborative effort between industry, government and educational institutions.

Kinewell’s pledge, with RS’ backing, to support the educational mission is one part of the effort. The firm is also trying to boost productivity for people working in the industry to meet the challenge. It is contributing to the building of different skills sets in the industry – inspiring a technology knowledge alongside an offshore wind knowledge – to help tackle the challenge from a multitude of directions.

When companies like Kinewell need to recruit new talent, but there is a lack of local skills, they are forced to fulfil the need by attracting new people to the area.  Supporting schools and the building of skills in areas where offshore wind jobs are prevalent is key to ensuring local people benefit from the opportunities, yielding local and worldwide benefits. Thanks to RS support, Kinewell will deliver the educational KLOC tool free at the point of use, enabling local, national and international impact. Both RS and Kinewell are keen for it to go as far and wide as possible, effectively ensuring it is a common resource. Many offshore wind developers, cable manufacturers and others visit schools to inspire the next generation and this tool will be available to help them, and teachers, in this mission for free. The idea is to create capability and allow free use, and assess what else can be done to improve scale, which may involve leveraging further funding. The vision is ambitious!

How many of us have wondered in school why we are learning formulas such as Pythagoras’s hypotenuse theorem? This kind of technology perfectly illustrates how these maths formulas are applied in industry: the maths underlying this product is plain dot-to-dot and requires working out where to place cables between turbines, working out the distance between them using the hypotenuse of the triangle. It puts a GCSE curriculum element into a real-world practical application scenario. Students must work out the price per metre of cable, multiply by length and create a total project cost. It’s a far more interactive way of delivering significant elements of the maths syllabus. Teachers will be able to motivate students through competition, with a leaderboard of which student within the class has designed the lowest cost wind farm.

This initiative is in the early development stages, with coding work currently underway with a hope it can be ready for delivery within the next year. For RS, it aligns perfectly with our company values of sustainability, education and innovation. Furthermore, this student-friendly application that will be available to use within schools can also be used by us in public engagement activities, such as offshore community events and conferences, further supporting the awareness drive.

We’re delighted to be supporting the development of this highly innovative software. The commercial version of KLOC has won multiple awards including ‘North East Energy Innovation of the Year 2023’ and is used worldwide by global offshore wind developers like Equinor and SSE Renewables, among others, to lower the cost and accelerate the delivery of their projects.

Educating the youth about renewable energy, giving them early insights and access to the offshore wind industry and the digital solutions that companies can provide, is vital to the future of the sector. And it is a very important sector for the UK: our exposed position in the Atlantic makes us home to some of the largest offshore wind farms in the world. The industry is estimated to create £1.3 billion per annum by 2030. This is an investment for RS as we expand the development of solutions for our customers in this area, and is part of a collaborative effort that all players in this arena must be involved in, to secure this key industry for generations to come.

Veronica Maxted is director of renewables at RS Group.