The Offshore Energy Digital and Data Strategy Taskforce is a collaborative effort to create a digital & data strategy spanning oil, gas and renewables.

Energy Systems Catapult and Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult are running the Taskforce to encourage a modern, digitalised and integrated sector.

The Challenge

With a target to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions in the UK by 2050, there are significant obligations on the offshore energy sector to accelerate the deployment of alternative energy vectors, such as Offshore Wind and Hydrogen, as well as Carbon Capture and Storage technologies.

At the same time, the sector must continue efforts to reduce emissions across all existing manufacturing, construction, operational and decommissioning endeavours.

Reimagining the offshore energy sector as one integrated energy system will be essential for the UK and Scotland to achieve their Net Zero ambitions. Innovation, collaboration and the application of digital technologies enabled by data will be key to realising ambitions and will require a collaborative effort across the sector.

Our Approach

With that challenge in mind, digitalisation and the use of data are the biggest enablers of efforts to decarbonise the UK energy system and the offshore energy sector recognises the need to grasp the opportunity with both hands.

The Taskforce will aim to develop an Offshore Energy Digital & Data Strategy with a clear set of recommendations and an action plan. This will facilitate greater digital collaboration, innovation and market development in offshore energy through improving data availability and transparency and help unlock new opportunities across the offshore energy sector.

Key themes being considered include those developed in the influential Energy Data Taskforce that was run by Energy Systems Catapult during 2019, which drew on input from over 300 people across the whole energy system, including:

• Data Visibility
• Infrastructure and Assets Visibility
• Operation Optimisation
• Market Opportunities
• Regulatory considerations, and the specifics of how these apply to the Offshore energy sector.

Partners

The Taskforce will bring together a range of participants, including: Renewable UK (RUK), the Net Zero Technology Centre, OGUK, the Oil and Gas Authority, the Crown Estate, Crown Estates Scotland and the Technology Leadership Board.