The vast ocean surface populated by wind-generated waves is where atmosphere and ocean interact. It is also where maritime and offshore renewable energy industries have to operate to secure future sustainable energy. Wave breaking provides the upper limit to how large waves may become and is the mechanism for how they dissipate energy. Breaking in crossing seas, the harshest conditions for shipping and offshore renewable energy (ORE) design, is poorly understood. A recent case study of the famous Draupner rogue wave by four of the investigators (M.L. McAllister et al. (2019) Laboratory recreation of the Draupner wave and the role of breaking in crossing seas. J. Fluid Mech. 860, 767-786) has shown that breaking in such seas is fundamentally different: it limits maximum wave height much less and is potentially much less dissipative. As a consequence, existing breaking criteria as implemented in wave forecasting tools and offshore design guidelines are not valid and unreliable in crossing seas. Through collaboration with DNV GL (an international accredited registrar and classification society), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (a world-leading operational wave forecasting agency) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (ranked first in the world for ocean engineering in the Shanghai Ranking), this project aims to develop and experimentally and numerically validate robust new wave breaking and dissipation criteria appropriate for highly directionally spread and crossing-sea conditions and implement these in wave forecasting tools and offshore design guidelines. The UK and Ireland possess substantial offshore wind resources that are capable of making major contributions to their national and international energy supply. A key problem in developing such resources is designing against the harsh ocean environment that prevails in the territorial waters of both countries. The design challenge is even greater in China (with an estimated 100bn offshore wind market), where candidate sites for offshore wind farms are exposed to typhoons, in which crossing sea conditions have an increased likelihood. The proposal will address this challenge through extensive large-scale experiments in two globally unique wave, FloWave at the University of Edinburgh (part of the UK ORE testing infrastructure) and the Ocean Basin at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, state-of-the-art numerical simulations and the development of new theory. The 30-month proposal has an investigating team across four universities (Oxford, Edinburgh, Manchester and University College Dublin) consisting of a PI, four Co-Is and a Researcher Co-I, three of whom are early-career researchers.

The UK is the world leader in offshore wind energy; almost 40% of global capacity is installed in UK waters. A new ambitious target of 40GW of wind power by 2030 aims to produce sufficient offshore wind capacity to power every home, helping to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Offshore wind turbine (OWT) foundations, which are typically steel monopiles, contribute approximately 25% to a windfarm's capital cost. The size of OWTs is increasing rapidly and continued optimisation of foundation design is paramount. Recent research has led to significant advances through theoretical developments combined with high-quality field-testing. Despite recent advances, there remains significant uncertainty in the measurement and interpretation of key soil deformation parameters that underpin new and existing design approaches. The central aim of SOURCE is to use rigorous measurement and interpretation in the field and laboratory to quantify and reduce material parameter uncertainty and minimise the impact on the predictive capability of OWT foundation design methods. Improved site characterisation will contribute to increased security in design, lowering capital costs, subsidies and carbon emissions and meeting the UK's ambitious new energy targets.

SuperAIRE aims to establish a world-leading network connecting academia, industries, and policymakers across the spectrum of artificial intelligence (AI) for renewable energy (RE), particularly wind, solar, marine, and bio energy. This includes generation, storage, transmission/distribution and demand side management. These represent most of the research areas in the UKRI's Energy and Decarbonisation theme. With SuperAIRE, we aim to create the conditions in which AI for RE can be promoted much more rapidly than at present to boost the development and deployment of RE. We will not only exploit the transformative power of AI in different RE subsectors but also address common challenges and optimise performance across the RE ecosystem. Supported by a broad partnership currently with 30 partners across industry (23), leading R&I organisations (5), and policymakers (2), we will incubate a Supergen AI+RE research community seizing the opportunity to enhance the UK's role as a global leader in the intelligent and digital transformation of the RE sector. Despite the recent growth in all subsectors, progress in essential technologies supporting the lifecycles of RE systems lags behind. AI offers strategic advantages in overcoming the limitations of traditional methods which struggle to process the increasing complexity and big data in RE systems. It will enable decision-supporting digitalisation, operational efficiency optimisation, cost-effective integration, multi-scenario adaptability, and technological cross-applicability. Though there are some current critical masses in AI for RE, the communities are facing many challenges, e.g., the fragmented nature of the landscape, subsystem isolation, and limited scope. SuperAIRE will address these challenges by enabling shared learning on common research challenges in different RE subsectors through promoting novel generic approaches complemented with refinements tailored to subsector's unique needs; forging a holistic view to facilitate system-wide AI applications; and fostering comprehensive solutions that go beyond single-task focuses to exploit the full potential of AI in enhancing the RE ecosystem. SuperAIRE will carry out diverse activities to engage with stakeholders, facilitate knowledge exchanges, catalyse community coherence, identify cross-sector opportunities, address skill gaps, support nurturing high-skill professionals with multidisciplinary expertise, and disseminate project outcomes. These activities include four key challenge workshops, bimonthly seminars, flexible funds, outreach activities, an international conference, etc. SuperAIRE will support early career researchers (ECRs) from both academia and industry via a dedicated ECR Forum, a mentoring scheme, secondment opportunities, and ECR grants. We will emphasise Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in all activities. Based on the current critical mass and emerging gaps and opportunities, we have also proposed six pre-defined research themes (RTs) to steer our Network+ activities, especially in guiding discussions, identifying challenges and opportunities, streamlining research coordination efforts, shaping a research landscape report, and developing a whitepaper. This includes RT1 Robust and trustworthy AI; RT2 Prediction and forecasting across scales; RT3 AI-powered digital twins; RT4 Intelligent control and management; RT5 Smart integration; and RT6 Intelligent robotics and autonomous systems in resource assessments, operations, and maintenance. Bolstered by strong support from project partners, we will consolidate core achievements and pursue the establishment of a new Supergen Hub in AI for RE at the end of SuperAIRE. Through these endeavours, we aim to enhance the efficiency, resilience, and affordability of RE, ultimately transforming the RE sector and addressing environmental challenges via AI.