Across the world, decisions on massive new infrastructure projects, investment in new manufacturing facilities for offshore wind components and the best routes for subsea cables are being driven by analysts in the East of England.

Data, intelligence and insight by a growing business in East Anglia are driving the biggest spending decisions across the offshore energy industry.

Any company in the offshore wind and cable value chain can look to TGS 4C Offshore’s information to assess risk in their strategic and tactical decision-making, for every stage of a wind farm lifecycle.

Richard Aukland, director of research and innovation at TGS 4C Offshore (Image: TGS 4C Offshore) Director of research and innovation Richard Aukland, who has been with the business since it started in Lowestoft in 2007, said: “Our job is to make it easy for them. We provide the evidence that supports timely and effective business decisions.

“They use our information to understand what is going on in the market, what the opportunities are going forward, where they stand in terms of their competitors – it saves them doing all the research themselves. Essentially, we are an outsourced research and strategy support department.”

With more than 3,000 subscribers, its team of researchers are individual experts in niche aspects of offshore wind, their specialisms split into geographic territories and technologies.

“We have experts in Europe, the Baltics, the Nordics, North America, South America, APAC, Greater China, the UK and Ireland – every area where offshore wind is, or is being planned – and in turbines, cables, vessels, foundations, costs etc covering the entire industry.

“Everything is tracked, added to databases which subscribers download with data of all the world’s operating and planned offshore wind farms, vessels and cables. We also monitor subsea power cables, interconnectors, oil and gas and electrification, and report what is going on in these markets.”

The teams produce more than 40 reports of the latest information every year, organise webinars and deliver online tools, maps and charts. Bespoke and consulting requests are rising, with expert witness services for a dispute being a recent venture.

TGS 4C Offshore gathers a wide range of data that can be used to inform important decisions across the offshore energy sector (Image: TGS 4C Offshore) With all of this data presented in its various forms, it’s hard to believe it all started with a map. Richard, a software engineer, created a map of all the early wind farms and the data analysis grew from that.

Acquired three years ago by TGS, the........

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