T02A22 - Four-tier offshore wind supply chain network integrated planning for farm development

Applications are invited for a 3.5-year PhD studentship. The studentship will start on 1 April 2025.

Project Summary:

As of 2023, with 14.7GW of operational capacity, the UK stands as the world’s second-largest offshore wind market, contributing 21% to the global capacity. This capacity quadrupled over the past ten years and now fulfils 14% of the UK’s entire electricity needs. Ambitiously, the capacity is targeted to more than treble to 50GW by 2030 to meet the Net Zero target. Additionally, the total project pipeline in all stages of development, now stands at 99.5GW, in which nearly 45GW could be fully operational by the end of 2030. Similar, the United States transition to renewable energy is also ambitious, with the country working toward a goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030 and 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind energy capacity by 2035, whilst Canada and Australia target for 5GW and 9GW of offshore wind by 2030 and 2040, respectively. 10% of a wind project’s lifetime cost stems from the supply chain processes. With the scale-up, every million invested in the supply chain will generate over one million in additional economic value annually. The UK’s offshore wind supply chain could capture £47 billion in economic value by 2040 by leveraging whole-system approaches to reduce cost.

This PhD studentship aims to enhance the cost-effectiveness of building offshore wind farms through development of a supply chain network integrated planning tool. The objective is to design a decision-making tool to achieve holistic, intelligent planning of wind turbine manufacturing, logistics, assembly, and installation processes, considering joint use of ports and logistics resources to unlock underutilised capabilities. The research can ease the supply chain limits on offshore renewable energy deployment and maximise the decarbonisation effect of offshore renewable growth. The studentship will focus on applying the simulation optimisation methodologies to a four-tier supply chain network for planning the farm development. 

Supervisors:

• Lead Supervisor: Professor Lars Johanning, University of Plymouth
• Secondary Supervisor: Dr Shuya Zhong, [Email Address Removed], University of Bath
• Third Supervisor: Dr Chenyu Zhao, University of Plymouth 
• International Supervisors: Professor Robert Perrons, [Email Address Removed], Queensland University of Technology; Dr Brad Buckham, [Email Address Removed], University of Victoria

Eligibility:

Applicants should have a first or upper second-class honours degree in an appropriate subject and either a relevant master's qualification or a wider range of experience in a relevant career path (which is equally as important).

The studentship is supported for 3 years and 6 months. All PhDs will be eligible for the full award – both the stipend to support living costs (£19,237 per academic year 2024/25 rate) and tuition fees at the research organisation's UK or international rate.

How to apply:

The application process has two stages. In the first stage, applicants are asked to send a CV and a Statement of Intent (max. two pages) describing their background and commitment to the research topic to the OcEn lead Professor Lars Johanning at [Email Address Removed]. Please view PhD projects, studentships and application guidance

The deadline for applications is 15 November 2024.