Notice

Competition document: windfarm mitigation for UK Air Defence

Updated 23 March 2021

1. Introduction

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is seeking proposals that can provide future offshore windfarm mitigation for UK Air Defence surveillance; including alternative technologies that could fill or remove gaps in radar coverage.

The competition is funded by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Skills’ (BEIS) Science and Innovation for Climate and Energy (SICE) portfolio; and is undertaken in partnership with the Royal Air Force (RAF), the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), and the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA).

A total of up to £2m is available, intended to fund a number of contracts of up to £500k.

2. Competition scope

2.1 Background

Offshore Wind

The development of Offshore Wind in the United Kingdom (UK) has supported domestic energy demands and contributed to the global drive to increase offshore device size. This has reduced the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) to enable Offshore Wind to become a zero subsidy energy source, paving the way for a new greener economy in the UK. The recent Queen’s Speech laid out increased ambition for Offshore Wind electricity generation, to 40GW by 2030.

This builds on the commitment by Her Majesty’s Government (HMG), under the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, to produce 30GW of electricity (expected to represent 30% of the UK’s electricity need) from offshore windfarms in the UK by 2030. This deal has also set a target of supporting 27000 jobs and £2.4bn per annum of exports by 2030.

In addition, under the 2019 ‘Net Zero’ legislation, the Committee on Climate Change (HMG’s advisory body) has predicted a requirement at least 75GW of electricity from offshore wind by 2050. This would require a ten-fold increase of current offshore windfarm generation capacity. It is expected that this will be achieved by a number of offshore windfarm developers and operators installing additional, larger, offshore windfarms around the UK. It is unlikely that achieving these ambitious targets will be possible without a step-change in the technology of wind turbines; allowing developers to utilise new and more advanced manufacturing techniques.

Impact of turbines on radar

The continued development of wind turbine sites has the potential to cause a number of negative effects on civil and military air traffic control and defence. Offshore windfarms, when in the line of sight of radar, have a detrimental effect on Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) primary surveillance radar capability used to deliver a recognised air picture for Air Defence.

Radar returns from within-radar line of sight wind turbines comprise reflections from both the static and moving elements; providing different challenges for the radar operator. While reflections from the stationary elements of wind turbines can be removed by utilising stationary clutter filters, the rotating turbine blades impart a Doppler shift on the reflection that cannot be easily removed.

A number of recent trials have demonstrated the adverse impact that this has on the UK’s air defence capability. The Doppler shift on ground radar returns mimics the signals of fast moving aircraft, curtailing the RAF’s ability to detect incoming, low flying, aircraft threats.

Analysis of these trials has concluded that current mitigation methodologies (including Non-Automatic Initiation Zones [NAIZ]) are insufficient to meet the agreed aviation specification. In addition, many of the mitigations applied to civilian radar systems cannot be applied to MOD primary surveillance radar assets, in part due to the age and type of these assets. Further, Air Defence staff cannot rely on transponder data, standard flight paths, and standard flying heights of potential enemy aircraft who may intend to remain hidden. The detrimental effect of offshore windfarms will be exacerbated by the increasing size, number, and scale of future installations.

Given these challenges, more than half of current wind farm developments are subject to objections from the aviation sector (civilian and military); preventing the development of radars within the line of sight of many air defence radar installations. With accelerated deployment of offshore wind farms needed to meet the goals set out in legislation, there is a clear need to mitigate the impact of wind turbines on radar and allow the wind farm developments to go ahead. MOD’s objections to offshore wind facilities within radar line of sight are causing attrition in the deployment pipeline, which risks endangering the decarbonisation trajectory of the United Kingdom.

3. Competition Challenges

This competition has 4 challenges

3.1 Challenges

Challenge 1: alternatives to radar

This may include, but is not limited to, alternative sensory information or technologies that would result in the mitigation of Windfarm inference with UK Air Defence.

Challenge 2: technologies applied to the wind turbine or installation

This may include, but is not limited to, metasurfaces applied to, or alterations to the design of, the wind turbines.

Challenge 3: technologies applied to the radar, its transmission, or its return

This may include, but is not limited to, alterations to the initial radar signal or radar station or processing of the return.

Challenge 4: technological mitigations that meet the above scope that are not covered by Challenges 1, 2, or 3

3.2 Clarification of what we want

We want novel ideas to benefit users working in UK Defence and Security. Your proposal should include evidence of:

• theoretical development, methodological advancement or proof of concept research which can demonstrate potential for translation to practical demonstration in later phases
• innovation or a creative approach
• clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to the given civil and military air traffic control context and military air defence context (including non-cooperative aircraft within the recognised air picture)

3.3 Clarification of what we do not want

For this competition we are not interested in proposals that:

• constitute consultancy, paper-based studies or literature reviews which just summarise the existing literature without any view of future innovation (which therefore could not be developed into further phases)
• do not offer realistic prospect of mitigating within-radar line of sight turbine impact
• offer demonstrations of off-the-shelf products requiring no experimental development (unless applied in a novel way to the challenge)
• technologies above TRL 4
• are an identical resubmission of a previous bid to DASA or MOD without modification
• offer no real long-term prospect of integration into defence and civil capabilities
• offer no real prospect of out-competing existing technological solutions

4. Exploitation

It is important that over the lifetime of this DASA competition and further phases, ideas are matured and accelerated towards appropriate users to mitigate the impact of wind turbines on radar and support the decision for wind farm developments to go ahead. How long this takes will be dependent on the nature and starting point of the innovation. Early identification and appropriate engagement with users are essential in order to develop and implement an exploitation plan.

All proposals to DASA should articulate the expected development in technology maturity of the potential solution over the lifetime of the contract and how this relates to improved operational capability against the current known (or presumed) baseline. Your deliverables should be designed to evidence these aspects with the aim of making it as easy as possible for collaborators/stakeholders to identify the innovative elements of your proposal in order to consider routes for exploitation. DASA Innovation Partners are available to support you with defence and security context.

A higher technology maturity will be expected in subsequent phases. You may wish to include some of the following information, where known, to help the assessors understand your exploitation plans to date:

• the intended defence or security users of your final product and whether you have previously engaged with them, their procurement arm or their research and development arm
• awareness of, and alignment to, any existing end-user procurement programmes
• the anticipated benefits (for example, in cost, time, improved capability) that your solution will provide to the user
• whether it is likely to be a standalone product or integrated with other technologies or platforms
• expected additional work required beyond the end of the contract to develop an operationally deployable commercial product (for example, “scaling up” for manufacture, cyber security, integration with existing technologies, environmental operating conditions)
• additional future applications and wider markets for exploitation
• wider collaborations and networks you have already developed or any additional relationships you see as a requirement to support exploitation
• how your product could be tested in a representative environment in later phases
• any specific legal, ethical, commercial or regulatory considerations for exploitation

Longer term studies may not be able to articulate exploitation in great detail, but it should always be clear that there is some credible advantage to be gained from the technology development.

5. How to apply

Proposals for funding to meet these challenges must be submitted by midday GMT on 17 April 2020 via the DASA submission service, for which you will be required to register.

The total funding available for Phase 1 is £2m (excluding VAT), with individual proposals not exceeding £500K (ex VAT). If successful, contracts awarded will complete no later than 31 March 2021.

Additional funding for additional phases to increase TRL may be available. Any further phases will be subject to a separate competitive commercial process and will be open to applications from all suppliers, not just those that submitted successful Phase 1 bids.

Further guidance on submitting a proposal is available on the DASA website.

5.1 What your proposal must include

The proposal should focus on the Phase 1 requirements but must also include a brief (uncosted) outline of the next stages of work required for exploitation.

When submitting a proposal, you must complete all sections of the online form, including an appropriate level of technical information to allow assessment of the bid and a completed finances section. Completed proposals must comply with the financial rules set for this competition. The upper-limit for this competition is £500k (excluding VAT) per proposal. Proposals will be rejected if the financial cost exceeds this capped level. It is also helpful to include a list of other current or recent government funding you may have received in this area if appropriate, making it clear how this proposal differs from that work.

A project plan with clear milestones and deliverables must be provided. Deliverables must be well defined and designed to provide evidence of progress against the project plan and the end-point for this phase.

Your proposal must demonstrate how you will complete all activities/services and provide all deliverables (in the table below) within the competition timescales (ending no later than the end of March 2021). Proposals with any deliverables (including final report) outside the competition timeline will be rejected, having been deemed non-compliant.

In accordance with DEFCON 705, required rights are noted below.

Deliverable/Event:	Action of supplier:	MOD Rights under DEFCON 705
Project kick off meeting	Participated in, and attended by, the supplier	N/A
Monthly progress meetings with the nominated Technical Partner	Participated in by the supplier	N/A
Quarterly progress meetings with DASA, Dstl, the RAF and BEIS (in person)	Participated in, and attended by, the supplier	N/A
Demonstration of technique or technology at a demonstration event	Delivered by, participated in and attended by, the supplier	DEFCON 705 Full and Limited Rights versions
Pre-quarterly meeting progress reports (including detailed project plan, risk, and applicable literature review)	Delivered by the supplier, 2 weeks prior to each quarterly progress meeting	DEFCON 705 Full and Limited Rights versions
Final report on technique or technology developed (including both technical detail and applicability to current and future offshore wind); including provision of collected raw data and statistical analysis	Delivered by the supplier at the end of the Contract	DEFCON 705 Full and Limited Rights versions
User guide(s)	Delivered by the supplier	DEFCON 705 Full rights
Interface definition for technique or technology (if applicable)	Delivered by the supplier	DEFCON 705 Full rights

A resourcing plan must also be provided that identifies, where possible, the nationalities of those proposed Research Workers that you intend working on this phase. In the event of proposals being recommended for funding, DASA reserves the right to undertake due diligence checks including the clearance of proposed

Research Workers. Please note that this process will take as long as necessary and could take up to 6 weeks in some cases for non-UK nationals.

You must identify any ethical, legal, or regulatory factors within your proposal and how the associated risks will be managed, including break points in the project if approvals are not received. Ministry of Defence Research and Ethics Committee (MODREC) approvals can take up to 5 months; therefore you should plan your work programme accordingly. Further details are available in the DASA guidance. If you are unsure if your proposal will need to apply for MODREC approval, then please contact DASA for further guidance.

Requirements for access to Government Furnished Assets (GFA), for example, information, equipment, materials and facilities, should be included in your proposal. DASA cannot guarantee that GFA will be available and where possible bidders should seek alternative solutions.

Failure to provide any of the above listed will automatically render your proposal non-compliant.

5.2 Public facing information

When submitting your proposal, you will be required to include a proposal title and a short abstract. If your proposal is funded, the title and abstract you provide will be used by DASA, and other government departments as appropriate, to describe the project and its intended outcomes and benefits. It will be used for inclusion at DASA events in relation to this competition and included in documentation such as brochures for the event. Your proposal title will also be published in the DASA transparency data on GOV.UK, along with your company name, the amount of funding you have received, and the start and end dates of your contract.

5.3 How your proposal will be assessed

At Stage 1, all proposals will be checked for compliance with the competition document and may be rejected before full assessment if they do not comply. Only those proposals who demonstrate their compliance against the competition scope and DASA mandatory criteria will be taken forward to full assessment. Failure to achieve full compliance against Stage 1 will render your proposal non-compliant and will not be considered any further:

The proposal outlines how it meets the scope of the competition	Within scope (Pass) / Out of scope (Fail)
The proposal fully explains in all three sections of the DASA submission service how it meets the DASA criteria	Pass / Fail
The proposal clearly details a financial plan, a project plan and a resourcing plan to complete the work proposed in phase 1	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies the need (or not) for MODREC approval	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies any GFA required for phase 1	Pass / Fail
The technology proposed is of technology readiness level (TRL) 2-4	Pass / Fail
The maximum value of the proposal is £500k exclusive of VAT	Pass / Fail
The proposal demonstrates how all research and development activities/services (including delivery of the final report) will be completed not later than March 2021	Pass / Fail
The bidders proposal includes provisions for attendance and participation in the meetings outlined in section 5.1	Pass / Fail
The bidder confirms their unqualified acceptance of the SC Innovation (Edn 12/19) Schedules and Terms and Conditions of Contract.	Pass / Fail

Proposals that pass Stage 1 will then be assessed against the standard DASA assessment criteria (Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability) by subject matter experts from the MOD (including Dstl), other government departments (including, but not limited to, BEIS and the Civil Aviation Authority), and front-line military commands. You will not have the opportunity to comment on assessors comments.

DASA reserves the right to disclose on a confidential basis any information it receives from bidders during the procurement process (including information identified by the bidder as Commercially Sensitive Information in accordance with the provisions of this competition) to any third party engaged by DASA for the specific purpose of evaluating or assisting DASA in the evaluation of the bidder’s proposal. In providing such information the bidder consents to such disclosure. Appropriate confidentiality agreements will be put in place.

Further guidance on how your proposal is assessed is available on the DASA website.

After assessment, proposals will be discussed internally at a Decision Conference where, based on the assessments, budget and wider strategic considerations, a decision will be made on the proposals that are recommended for funding.

Proposals that are unsuccessful will receive brief feedback after the Decision Conference.

5.4 Things you should know about DASA contracts

Please read the DASA terms and conditions which contain important information for suppliers. For this competition we will be using the Innovation Standardised Contracting (ISC) Contract Model, links to the contract here: Terms and Schedules. We will require unqualified acceptance of the terms and schedules. For the avoidance of any doubt, for this Themed Competition we are not using the DASA Short Form Contract (SFC).

Funded projects will be allocated a Project Manager (to whom suppliers will deliver the project) and a Technical Partner (as a technical point of contact). In addition, the DASA team will work with you to support delivery and exploitation.

We will use deliverables from DASA contracts in accordance with our rights detailed in the contract terms and conditions.

For this phase, up to £2m is currently available to fund multiple proposals. There may be occasions where additional funding from other funding lines may subsequently become available to allow us to revisit those proposals deemed suitable for funding but where limitations on funding at the time prevented DASA from awarding a subsequent Contract. In such situations, DASA reserves the right to keep such proposals in reserve.
In the event that additional funding subsequently becomes available, DASA may ask whether you would still be prepared to undertake the work outlined in your proposal under the same terms.

6. Phase 1 dates

Dial-in	Date
Pre bookable 1-1 telecom sessions	Date
Competition closes	1200 GMT 17 April 2020
Contracts	Aiming for July 2020 and concluding by end of March 2021
Feedback released	by end of July 2020

6.1 Supporting events

26 March 2020 – A dial-in session providing further detail on the problem space and a chance to ask questions in an open forum. If you would like to participate, please register on the Dial in Eventbrite page.

26 March 2020 – A series of 20 minute one-to-one teleconference sessions, giving you the opportunity to ask specific questions. If you would like to participate, please register on the 1-1s Eventbrite page.

7. Help

Competition queries including on process, application, technical, commercial and intellectual property aspects should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk, quoting the competition title.

While all reasonable efforts will be made to answer queries, DASA reserves the right to impose management controls if volumes of queries restrict fair access of information to all potential suppliers.