The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney and the FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility at Edinburgh University are to work together to offer real world technical input and sophisticated tank testing capability to developers applying to Wave Energy Scotland’s latest funding call on novel wave energy converter concepts.
On offer is 100 percent funding to develop novel wave energy concepts that have not previously been developed and characterised. Wave Energy Scotland (WES) is expecting to fund up to eight projects under Stage 1 of the funding call, worth £2.4 million. Each project selected will be awarded up to £300,000 of funding. Test tank performance and validation testing, which should be witnessed and verified by a suitable third party assessor, is a key requirement for developers to evidence their device performance and other claims to WES. The deadline for applications is 13th August 2015.
The best performing projects from Stage 1 will subsequently progress through to Stage 2 and Stage 3, where a scaled prototype will be deployed at an offshore test berth in Scottish waters.
“As well as having some of the best wave energy resources in Europe, Scotland has the most advanced test facilities in the world” said Oliver Wragg, EMEC commercial director. “At EMEC we have more than a decade of experience in helping developers prove full and part-scale wave energy convertors in real sea conditions; whilst FloWave has been designed from the ground up to be the best facility in the world for testing wave and tidal energy devices at tank scale.”
Mr Wragg added that EMEC has provided a lot of technical input and support to developers in the previous Wave Energy Scotland call, focusing on power take-off systems specifically in the area of test result verification.
FloWave is now developing tools to replicate the exact conditions experienced at EMEC within the test tank, according to Stuart Brown, FloWave’s chief executive officer. This will be a vital tool for demonstrating that concepts are fit for purpose and worthy of proceeding through to the next developmental stage of funding. FloWave and EMEC will ensure that tank testing reflects real world conditions to the greatest possible extent, with particular consideration for the actual EMEC sites where devices are likely to be deployed in the future. The two centres will therefore be able to offer a clear route from the lab to the ocean for any new technology.
For additional information:
European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC)
