A new centre to develop and test offshore wind condition monitoring technologies – and help Scotland meet its renewable energy targets – is to be opened at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

The Centre for Advanced Condition Monitoring, a partnership between the University, SgurrEnergy and David Brown Gear Systems (David Brown), will develop innovative techniques to improve the availability of offshore wind farms and reduce the need for expensive reactive, offshore maintenance.

Researchers at the Centre will initially focus on technology to monitor the condition of offshore gearboxes, including advanced remote sensors to detect how they are being affected by extreme wind conditions.

The new partnership will work alongside the University’s Wind Energy Systems Doctoral Training Centre, which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to provide high level training to PhD students to help address the skill shortage in the renewables sector.