A BRITISH cleantech company has received royal recognition for its role in supporting the global transition to Net Zero.
Kinewell Energy has been awarded a King’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade by His Majesty King Charles III.
The King’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the UK. The Award for International Trade recognises companies that have generated significant overseas sales with steep year-on-year growth, without dips, over a sustained three to six year period.
Headquartered in the North East of England, Kinewell’s suite of AI-powered Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions make the development of offshore wind farms easier and more cost-effective.
From plotting turbine positions to maximise energy yields, to mapping inter-array cable layouts to minimise cost, and deciding the best way to get the power back to shore, the company’s products have been procured by some of the biggest names in energy. Blue-chip developers such as SSE Renewables, Equinor and Parkwind rely on Kinewell to support their offshore wind farm development. The solutions have been utilised on dozens of developments across the Americas, Europe and Asia.
The award not only recognises Kinewell’s significant export growth, but also the progress the company’s pioneering solutions have made in helping nations the world-over transition to a net zero society.
Dr Andrew Jenkins, founder of Kinewell, said: “It fills us with immense pride to have been awarded the King’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade.
“Over the past eight years, our state-of-the-art infrastructure optimisation solutions have been deployed during the design and development of some of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, helping developers save hundreds of millions of pounds in capital expenditure while slashing development times.
“Our solutions have also played a key role in helping countries around the world to decarbonise their power grids, reduce their energy costs, diversify their energy security, and combat climate change.
“But none of this would have been possible without the ingenuity and determination of our team to design, develop and deliver each of our innovative solutions.
“This award is also as much our success as a North East of England success. Our extensive R&D activities underpinning our software solutions have been made possible thanks to fantastic support from economic development initiatives such as the North East Combined Authority (NECA)’s TIGGOR programme delivered by ORE Catapult, InnovateUK, The North East BIC, Innovation Supernetwork, RTC North, Energi Coast, and others.”
According to World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO), 31 new offshore wind farms with a total capacity of 11GW became operational in 2024. This brings global offshore wind capacity to a total of 79GW and Dr Jenkins is confident that Kinewell will further build on its export success over the coming months and years.
He added: “Although we’ve seen exceptional sustained growth in export sales leading to this award, we’re only just getting started. We see huge opportunities for further growth as we solve industry challenges, driving down the cost of offshore wind through advanced mathematical optimisation, and delivering productivity gains through automation and digitalisation to mitigate industry skills gaps.
“As our export sales continue to grow, we are bringing increasing levels of investment to our region and the associated new green jobs that follow. It is an incredibly exciting time for everyone associated with the company.”
Kinewell will be formally presented with the award at a ceremony later this year by the Office of the Lord-Lieutenant of Tyne & Wear. For more information on Kinewell, visit: https://kinewell.co.uk/
