A new offshore energy taskforce is launching today (21 September) to create a digital and data strategy spanning the oil, gas, and renewables sectors.

The The Offshore Energy Digital and Data Strategy taskforce will bring together a range of participants to encourage a ‘modern, digitalised, and integrated’ sector. It is being launched by the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC), OGUK, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA).

It will be run by Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) and Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult.

With a UK target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, there are now expectations that the energy sector will accelerate the move to renewable energies, such as hydrogen and offshore wind, as well as carbon capture and storage technologies.

Additionally, the sector continues to reduce emissions across all existing manufacturing, construction, operational and decommissioning projects.

Moving forward, the Taskforce said it would consider the ‘key themes’ developed in the Energy Data Taskforce, drawing on input from over 300 people across the whole energy system. These include data visibility, infrastructure and assets visibility, operation optimisation, market opportunities and regulatory considerations.

Commenting on the news, Simon Pearson, Digital Business Leader, Energy Systems Catapult. Said: “With that challenge in mind, digital and 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 and 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.”

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Scotland will be a large part of the move to net-zero, as the country can generate huge amounts of renewable energy from wind, hydrogen, and wave technology.

Head of Offshore Energy 4.0, NZTC Stephen Ashley said: “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 absolutely key to realising these ambitions and will require a collaborative effort across the sector.

“At the Net Zero Technology Centre we are committed to delivering an affordable net zero and see the significant value that the Offshore Energy Digital and Data Strategy Taskforce will bring in achieving this goal.”

Annie Breaden, Head of Policy, Crown Estate Scotland, added: “The creation of this taskforce is an important step in ensuring the different technologies and sectors involved can work together to establish data strategies that adequately support their development.

“We therefore welcome this collaborative project, and look forward to it finding new ways to support offshore energy’s contribution to achieving our Net Zero targets.”