Q-Connect Secures Innovation Grant from Scottish Enterprise

Quoceant is delighted to have won a grant from Scottish Enterprise as part of their competitive Scotland CAN DO Offshore Wind Innovation Feasibility Challenge Call.  The funding will be used to support the design of new features for Quoceant’s high-strength, cost effective, mooring quick connector, Q-Connect M.

Q-Connect M is part of a family of marine quick connectors that are under development by Quoceant for the rapid, repeatable and reliable connection and disconnection of moorings and electrical cables to offshore renewables. Initially designed for the wave and tidal sector, with support from Wave Energy Scotland, the connectors are now being adapted and uprated for use in the floating offshore wind sector.

Euan Reilly, Senior Engineer and CAN DO Offshore Wind Project Manager at Quoceant said: "Quick connection systems offer major advantages to the construction and maintenance of floating wind farms. This award will enable Quoceant to develop exciting innovations in our Q-Connect M family that will ultimately benefit the whole market by reducing costs and installation times."

Quoceant has previously demonstrated, through an Offshore Wind Growth Partnership project, that a high-strength Q-Connect design that can meet the requirements of the Floating Offshore Wind Industry is feasible, and that the Q-Connect system offers a simpler, more compact, lighter, and cheaper option than other mooring quick-connect competitors.  Our development work to date has highlighted that further advances are possible, especially through reducing the size and bulkiness of interfacing structures. The CAN DO Offshore Wind project will use Quoceant’s innate innovative nature to address those challenges and underpin the commercial case for Q-Connect M in Floating Offshore Wind.

Quoceant are one of 22 successful applicants for funding from Scottish Enterprise who provided grants ranging from £30,000 to £50,000 to strengthen Scotland’s offshore wind supply chain. The breadth of applicants includes companies developing technology including subsea ROVs, AI based monitoring systems, dynamic cable buoyancy systems, and self-aligning wind towers. The full list of awarded grants is:

• Quoceant Ltd (Loanhead) – Designing of an innovative solution to provide direct mooring line termination and articulation into their high strength, Q-Connect M, mooring quick connector.

• SeaThor (Aberdeen) – Conducting a feasibility study for deploying CableSpring, a dynamic cable buoyancy module system.

• Fennex Ltd (Aberdeen) – Developing AI-driven solutions to optimize offshore wind operations based on weather conditions.

• TTI Marine Renewables Ltd (Inverness) – An offshore engineering consultancy and mooring specialist based in Inverness, developing their "Integrated Strain Sensor" designed to monitor  the through-life health of mooring ropes deployed in Offshore Floating Wind Arrays.

• Blackfish Engineering Design Ltd (Aberdeen) – Enhancing floating offshore wind (FLOW) marine operations with the C-Dart quick mooring connector.

• Build the Reef Ltd (Aberdeen) – Building subsea protection structures to implement Artificial Reef Subsea Cable & Anchorage Protection.

• Napkin Innovation Limited (East Kilbride) – Replacing grout to cut the time and emissions associated with offshore installation.

• Malin Marine Consultants Ltd (Glasgow) – Developing optimised drag anchors to be more efficient and effective while allowing a scalable manufacturing process suitable for additive manufacturing.

• T12 Engineering Ltd (Edinburgh) – Developing an offshore mooring system.

• Titan Energies Limited (Aberdeen) – Adapting proven oil & gas technology for offshore wind by redesigning drilling techniques and integrating them with existing wind mooring systems.

• Wind Rider Caledonia Ltd (Edinburgh) – Studying the rotatable, self-aligning wind tower to reduce costs and enhance performance.

• GEG Holdings Ltd (Edinburgh) – Repurposing tanker jetties for use as deep-water berths supporting floating offshore wind.

• Trios Renewables (Glasgow) – Advancing state-of-the-art floating offshore wind technical and commercial models.

• Frontier Robotics (Edinburgh) – Developing photorealistic 3D interactive models for subsea inspections using the latest computer vision reconstruction techniques.

• Rovtech Solutions (Aberdeen) – Developing a tether management system for OEMs.

• Ilosta Ltd (Glasgow) – Using physics-based AI to develop intelligent monitoring for offshore wind foundation.

• Inductight Ltd (Oldmeldrum) – Developing an autonomous bolting and monitoring system using AR to complement AI and ML.

• First Marine Solutions Limited (Aberdeen) – Exploring feasibility for a novel mooring integrity monitor for floating offshore wind platforms.

• Fathom Group Limited (Aberdeen) – Validating technology adapted from fixed offshore wind to floating offshore wind, assessing performance against OpenFAST, the industry-standard simulation tool.

• Encomara Limited (Aberdeen) – Conducting a technical and commercial feasibility assessment of SQUID adoption for the OSSIAN Offshore Wind Project.

• Reblade Limited (Glasgow) – Supporting Phase 2 of their digital innovation tool that supports major offshore wind farm components. Reblade has been working with the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (OREC) to complete the Phase prototype.  

• Airspection Limited (Glasgow) – Testing and demonstrating drone technology in preparation for a critical customer and regulatory trial with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)