MIT Technology Review – the independent media company founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1899 – has included Ørsted on its new list of 15 climate tech companies to watch. The list, which was premiered today at this year’s ClimateTech conference on MIT’s campus, highlights start-ups and established businesses that could have the greatest potential to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions or otherwise address the threats of climate change.
According to MIT Technology Review, “former fossil-fuel company Ørsted has reinvented itself as a renewables powerhouse. The company is leading the charge into a clean energy future by building massive offshore wind farms in Europe and installing some of the first turbines in US waters”.
Among the executives to speak at the CleanTech conference was Varun Sivaram, Senior Vice President and Head of Strategy, Innovation, Portfolio, Partnerships & M&A at Ørsted.
“I’m incredibly proud that Ørsted is recognised as a climate tech leader by MIT Technology Review, which is known around the world for its compilations of leading technology advances and innovators,” said Varun Sivaram, continuing: “Innovation is key to leading the world toward a future powered entirely by green energy. As a world leader in renewable energy, Ørsted has helped identify and deploy innovative solutions within the energy sector for more than two decades, and we’re more ambitious than ever to push for the next technology breakthroughs that can help solve the climate crisis.”
Ørsted’s scientists and engineers are advancing research, development, demonstration, and deployment of advanced technology projects with the aim of integrating even higher shares of renewables into the global energy system and decarbonising the world economy. Examples include the following:
- Ørsted recently built and patented the industry’s first uncrewed surface vessel, which uses onboard LIDAR to accurately predict offshore wind generation at prospective sites.
- Ørsted’s PICASO project with Oxford University has helped reduce the steel used offshore wind foundations. While wind turbines have grown larger and more powerful, if not for these design breakthroughs, foundations would be 500 tonnes heavier.
- Ørsted actively invests in clean technology start-up companies, including its most recently announced investment in Crux, to unlock finance for the green transition.
- The Danish Energy Agency has awarded Ørsted a landmark contract for our carbon capture and storage hub. We’ll capture biogenic carbon dioxide from our Danish combined heat and power plants and store over 400,000 tonnes of biogenic CO2 every year in the Norwegian North Sea. In relation to this, we have concluded the world’s largest carbon dioxide removal offtake contract with Microsoft.
- Ørsted recently announced a partnership with Newlab to support start-ups building, piloting, and scaling novel energy storage solutions and developing solutions for long-duration flexibility.
- Ørsted is a leader in developing and deploying artificial intelligence solutions, such as by analysing drone imagery to monitor corrosion in foundations and inspect the insides and outsides of wind turbine blades. These digital advances keep wind farm availability at industry-leading levels and help reduce the costs, time, and risks of sending manned crews out to sea.
Last year, Ørsted was included on the TIME 100 most influential companies list for bringing offshore wind to the US.
