About the Pilot
The Vanguard Initiative pilot project in Advanced Manufacturing for Energy Related Applications ADMA Energy seeks to make Europe the global leader in manufacturing robust, high-integrity components for the marine renewable, traditional offshore energy and subsea industries. The pilot project is being developed across some of the most advanced European regions in this sector, to pool resources and expertise for the benefit of industry.
Led by Scotland and the Basque Country, the VI ADMA Energy Pilot brings together seven European regions, including Asturias, Dalarna, Emilia-Romagna, Flanders and Lombardy. These regions host a number of stakeholders with particular expertise in this field, including cluster organisations, business networks, enterprise and investment agencies, research and technology organisations, universities, and above all a large, established industrial and advanced manufacturing base in marine renewable energy technologies and wider offshore energy and subsea applications.
Ultimately, ADMA Energy aims to make Europe the global leader in manufacturing of robust high integrity components and systems for marine renewables, subsea and offshore energy applications, by creating new business opportunities and increased growth for the sector, and helping larger companies strengthen their supply chains by working with innovative SMEs all over Europe, whilst providing smaller companies with new, high-demand customers to grow their businesses. Furthermore, the Pilot aims to facilitate greater knowledge transfer between traditional marine energy sectors, marine renewables and other subsea-related industries.
Activities & Long Term Goals
The long-term goal of the ADMA Energy Pilot remains in the creation of new value chains in the growing offshore energy industry, through the provision of support for advanced manufacturing technologies across traditional and emerging sectors and technologies – as well as disruptive innovations related to design, functionality, integration, automation, material, communication etc. of the components/systems in “Blue Growth” and subsea domains. This includes new innovations and materials for products, services and processes.
In 2019, the ADMA Energy Pilot commissioned a study to report on current insights into technology and innovation needs. Building on this exercise, five specific feasibility studies were carried out to deepen the knowledge and understanding of the current challenges and outlook toward potential focal points therein. Through the feasibility studies, the partnership has been able to identify initial project areas of further collaboration. The feasibility studies cover the following priority areas: power in transfer in the sea, next generation materials for the manufacturing of offshore wind turbines, joining large-scale components, anchoring and mooring and offshore decommissioning.
Current demo cases explored include: ‘Power Transfer in the Sea' and ‘Next generation materials’. Additional proposed project areas that remain for further exploration include: ‘Joining of large components in harsh environments’ led by Flanders (BE) and ‘Exploring Decommissioning and Valorisation of Oil & Gas rigs in Sustainable and Circular Economy Frameworks’ led by Emilia Romagna.
The ADMA Energy pilot is currently advancing the development of priority project areas identified in 2019 and 2020 as new demonstration cases within the Pilot.