Inside the Energy Transition Zone - HonuWorx

Building an ecosystem of innovation and impact

Kicking off the 'Inside the Energy Transition Zone' series about companies based in the Energy Transition Zone, we spoke with Lee Wilson. As the CEO and founder of HonuWorx, he told us more about the company’s innovative efforts in subsea working and what it is like to be based in the W-ZERO 1 building and at the heart of the Energy Transition Zone in Aberdeen.

What does your company do?

“We are a subsea robotics company founded in 2020, and we are building a suite of technologies that are changing the way the world works underwater. These are disrupting the economics of working subsea, reducing the risk, cost and carbon footprint of robotic operations while also delivering unprecedented access and control for the future of work in the world’s seas and oceans.”

How would you say HonuWorx’s activity fits into the wider energy transition?

“Our activity is quite important as whatever the sort of shape, pace and mix of the energy transition, we are going to be working offshore. But equally, where we work offshore, we also need to work underwater.”

What made you want to move into the Energy Transition Zone?

“One of the key things that attracted me to the W-ZERO 1 building in the Energy Transition Zone, was the view we have from our office. We look out over the North Sea and its wind farms. While the weather is not always fantastic, this is a part of why our technologies are needed. But for the engineers that work here at HonuWorx, they can always look outside the window and see the immediate problem they are trying to solve. We were one of the first tenants here at the coworking space too and it is a fantastic new facility that has had some great investment, something that is needed to entice people to work for the business.”

What benefits have you seen so far from being based at W-ZERO 1 and what support have you received from ETZ Ltd?

“There is fantastic support and just being part of an ecosystem with like-minded companies that are trying to work on future energy technologies, has been great. HonuWorx is also very fortunate to be one of the beneficiaries of the recent ETZ Ltd Challenge Fund. With the funding, we are going to build facilities right here in the Energy Transition Zone, which will be world-leading, state-of-the-art subsea robotics simulation infrastructure.”