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Press Release: FullProxy Joins Forth & Tay Offshore Cluster to enhance Cyber security capabilities for the offshore wind sector

New Forth and Tay member FullProxy share their dedication to supporting renewable energy companies and enhancing the cyber security infrastructure of organisations within the cluster.

Written by Abbie Ridgway, FullProxy.

Glasgow, February, 12th, 2024– FullProxy, Scotland’s leading independent Scottish cyber security and web application specialists proudly announces its membership in the Forth & Tay Offshore Cluster, a strategic initiative aimed at fostering collaboration and innovation within the offshore wind sector. FullProxy’s involvement in the cluster indicates a dedication to supporting renewable energy companies and enhancing the cyber security infrastructure of organsations within the cluster. This enables them to access and leverage advanced cyber security resources effectively.

The Forth & Tay Offshore Cluster, centered in the hub of the east coast of Scotland, is dedicated to promoting the capabilities of companies and organisations within the offshore wind energy sector. By facilitating collaboration and offering support in skills development, it aims to establish the region as a hub for a thriving, wind energy companies who will be a fighting force in combating the climate crisis and providing clean energy to Scotland.

According the Office of National Statistics, “Renewable energies like wind are an important part of decarbonising our economy and slowing climate change. The share of renewable energy sources, including wind, in total energy consumption is also an indicator for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (7.2.1), to help build a more sustainable future.”

FullProxy’s proficiency in cyber security seamlessly aligns with the cluster’s objectives, delivering a pivotal layer of protection for organisations involved in offshore energy projects. As technology increasingly plays a crucial role in the UK’s critical infrastructure, the imperative for cyber security measures grows ever more significant to shield manufacturers from devastating attacks. Particularly prevalent in the energy sector are supply chain attacks, capable of causing organisations to lose crucial data, face downtime, and incur substantial financial losses. Consequently, integrating premium cyber security expertise should be an intrinsic focus within the energy sector to strengthen its defenses against potential threats.

Key highlights of FullProxy’s Involvement in the Forth & Tay Offshore Cluster:

1. Enhanced cyber security resources: FullProxy is committed to assisting organisations within the cluster in gaining better access to cyber security resources. This includes advanced threat detection, risk mitigation, and tailored solutions to address the unique challenges of the offshore wind sector.
2. Collaborative innovation: FullProxy will actively participate in the cluster’s initiatives to enhance innovation and collaboration among member organisations. By sharing insights and best practices, FullProxy aims to contribute to the collective strength and resilience of the offshore energy supply chain.
3. Risk awareness: As a member of the cluster, FullProxy will work towards increasing risk awareness and the importance of cyber security in the offshore wind sector. This will include educating members of the cyber security risks related to their sector, awareness on the latest products for security protection with the market, and access to expert advice from technical consultants to empower organisations with the latest insights and practices in cyber security.
4. Support for Skills Development: FullProxy recognises the significance of skilled professionals in maintaining an effective cyber security posture. The company will actively support skill development programs within the cluster, ensuring that the work force is equipped to address evolving cyber threats effectively.
   FullProxy’s collaboration with the Forth & Tay Offshore Cluster showcases a shared commitment to the growth and sustainability of the offshore energy sector on the east coast of Scotland. By working together to strengthen cyber security measures, FullProxy aims to empower organisations within the cluster to navigate the digital landscape securely and seize new opportunities in the offshore wind industry.

FullProxy’s collaboration with the Forth & Tay Offshore Cluster showcases a shared commitment to the growth and sustainability of the offshore energy sector on the east coast of Scotland. By working together to strengthen cyber security measures, FullProxy aims to empower organisations within the cluster to navigate the digital landscape securely and seize new opportunities in the offshore wind industry.

About Forth & Tay Offshore Cluster: The Forth & Tay Offshore Cluster is a collaborative initiative designed to promote the capabilities of companies and organisations within the offshore wind sector. Through activities supporting innovation, collaboration, and skills development, the cluster aims to establish the east coast of Scotland as a thriving hub for the offshore energy supply chain. Press Contact: Shona Clive- Forth and Tay Project Lead Email: shonaclive@scottishengineering.org.uk/ project.manager@forthandtayoffshore.co.uk Contact number: 07967366731 Website: https://www.forthandtayoffshore.co.uk/ About FullProxy: FullProxy optimise, install & manage premium cyber security solutions to keep your business more secure in a changing world. Our highly experienced consultants are accredited to top tier expert status by F5 and Fortinet, ensuring your implementation is seamless and delivers ROI as soon as possible. FullProxy’s size means we’re agile and independent, so we can work alongside you to optimize the right solution for your organization. With a proven track record specifically in Healthcare, Education, Financial Services and Critical Infrastructure, we’re trusted and recommended by people like you. Press Contact:
Abbie Ridgway – Digital Marketing Executive Email:abbie.ridgway@fullproxy.com Contact number: +44 141 291 5500 Website: https://www.fullproxy.com/about-us/   

National Cluster Initiative

Dear members,

As some of you may already know, it has been proposed that Scotland's two existing offshore wind clusters, DeepWind and Forth and Tay Offshore, should merge into a single, unified national cluster with enhanced resources. The main aim is to increase support to Scottish supply chain companies and for the new national entity to be run by industry for industry.

A Task and Finish Group has been formed, comprising private sector members of both clusters and representatives from public sector bodies Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise along with representatives from the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council, to take on the overall approach to communications and governance for this process and ensure each area, region and interest group has an opportunity to input into this formation of a national cluster.

Rationale

The geographic focus of the Scottish clusters and their governance structures are still broadly reflective of the Scottish offshore wind opportunity at the time they were established, in 2019.  

Five years ago, there were 12 Scottish projects comprising 9.8GW of capacity under development, construction or in operation. The ScotWind and INTOG leasing processes have transformed the nature of the Scottish offshore wind project pipeline, which has quadrupled to 48 projects with planned generation capacity of up to 45.5GW (including 1.9GW of fully operational projects). The substantial growth in Scotland’s domestic offshore wind pipeline provided the impetus for reassessing Scotland’s existing two cluster model.  

Cluster Reform   

The Scottish national cluster initiative was instigated at the behest of the SOWEC Supply Chain & Clusters Group in Autumn 2022 who organised a series of three workshops that included representatives from DeepWind and Forth and Tay Offshore. The workshops culminated in an information paper recommending the development of a single, national Scottish offshore wind cluster that could build on, enhance and expand Scotland-wide the activities currently delivered by the two clusters. Key considerations included:   

• Creating a national Scottish cluster would reduce complexity within the sector.
• Many ScotWind and INTOG developers do not fit neatly within the original geographic and thematic focus of the two-cluster model.  
• There is considerable crossover between the memberships of the two clusters with over 200 shared members.
• The time and resources that cluster board members can dedicate to the clusters is finite, and risks being spread too thinly.

In spring 2023, Lumen Associates were tasked by SOWEC to create draft terms of reference for a single Scottish offshore wind cluster. During June and July 2023, Lumen held workshops and one-to-one meetings with representatives from SOWEC, DeepWind and Forth and Tay Offshore and the outcomes were set out in the paper Scottish Cluster Reform - Recommendation to Forth and Tay Offshore and DeepWind Steering Groups, which was shared with the steering groups of both clusters for consideration in late July.

In August, the steering groups of both clusters agreed in principle with the general ambition of a single, unified Scottish offshore wind cluster. This was subject to greater detail and clarity with regard to its design and to ensure that regional focus and involvement would not be lost in the transition.  

Next steps

The partners are in the process of appointing a consultant to project manage the development and creation of a unified Scottish offshore wind cluster. It is anticipated that the contract will start on 22 January for six months. The appointed consultant will be responsible for overseeing the following Task and Finish Groups:

• Communications: an internal and external communications plan to ensure members of each cluster are kept fully abreast with progress whilst communicating that merger more widely with industry. This group will also consider the branding and mediums that the cluster will focus on.
• Activities and Events: events programme of a unified cluster, including amalgamation of existing plans to ensure Scotland-wide representation.  
• Governance: including assessment of a need for a steering board and who should serve on this.  
• Legal: ensuring a legal entity is set up properly.
• HR: how the cluster will be resourced, and identification of recruitment processes and support required to proceed with this.  

In addition to oversight of the task and finish groups, the consultant will engage with stakeholders associated with the project, including, but not limited to, members of the SOWEC Supply Chain and Clusters Group.  

The main outputs from this commission will be:

• Terms of Reference for the proposed Unified Scottish Offshore Wind Cluster
• Job Description for the Cluster Manager
• Monthly Progress Reports to Contract Management Team
• Creation and completion of an action plan for each task and finish group

The steering group has agreed this will be reviewed by: Scott Hamilton (SOWEC), Claire Wilson (HIE), Adam Swainbank (SE), Paul O’ Brien (DeepWind) and Shona Clive (FTO).

I hope that you will agree that a unified, national cluster will allow us to work more efficiently across the supply chain to take advantage of the momentous opportunity that offshore wind provides for Scotland.

We will endeavour to keep you informed at all key milestones in this process but if you have any questions about this or would like to discuss what this means for your business in the meantime, please do get in touch.  

On behalf of DeepWind and Forth and Tay Offshore.  

 

Reminder - our offshore wind supply chain questionnaire is still open for responses!

We are still taking responses for our supply chain questionnaire.

We are aiming to understand and map the capabilities of the offshore wind supply chain in Scotland. Whether your company is currently active in offshore wind, was previously active, or is looking to get involved, your input is important to us. 

With this questionnaire, we hope to showcase Scotland as a destination of choice for offshore wind, highlight companies, projects and supply chain active in Scotland as well as in our own geographical area of the east coast of Scotland, and further support supply chain engagement opportunities.

Thank you for your participation!

 

FTO member RelyOn Nutec hosting Lunch & Learn to introduce innovative crane and lifting simulation technology

RelyOn Nutec UK is to bring its innovative crane and lifting simulation technology to Teesside, via an exciting lunch & learn session

Forth & Tay Offshore member RelyOn Nutec, leaders in practical and digital training for traditional and renewable energy, is hosting a lunch & learn session to introduce its crane and lifting simulation technology to the UK market, and the invite is extended to all F&TO cluster members. 

This free event will be held at RelyOn Nutec’s training centre in Teesside on Wednesday 24^th January, and will give attendees the opportunity to get some hands-on experience with its mobile crane simulator, as well as highlighting the many tangible benefits that simulation technology can bring to organisations involved in high risk operations.

This sessions aims to further RelyOn’s overall goal to improve workforce safety across the energy sector and related industries. Offshore wind incident data continues to show that lifting operations are one of the primary risk areas for the sector, and simulators offer operators the chance to train in a risk-free environment and to practice difficult lifting procedures prior to worksite operations.

The company has invested heavily in its technology since acquiring a simulation business back in 2019. It now offers a range of crane and lifting scenarios including the build of an offshore wind turbine, port crane operations, and an offshore oil and gas platform exercise. Each of these scenarios will be available for attendees to view and test at the upcoming lunch & learn.

Helen Dunn, Head of Sector - Renewables, at RelyOn, said: “This lunch & learn is a great opportunity for any person who has a responsibility for lifting operations. Simulators can be used to train and assess the workforce, and allow operators the opportunity to fully rehearse emergency procedures in a safe and controlled environment, without interrupting day-to-day operations.

“At the session, we’ll have our mobile crane simulator so that our guests can get some hands-on experience. The mobile sim is a cost effective alternative to our full size simulators and can be easily transported to customer sites. Simulation technology is becoming increasingly accessible and will undoubtedly play a major role in training of future cohorts of crane operators.”

RelyOn is extending the invitation to its session to any person involved in lifting operations. More information about the event can be found here and those looking to attend should sign up via the online registration form.