FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility at Edinburgh University and Canadian marine turbulence specialists Rockland Scientific will work together to develop tank-scale turbulence measurement technology, which can also be deployed at sea on both sides of the Atlantic. The two companies have already completed a first round of technology testing in 2014.
The two companies announced their collaboration on the project at FloWave during an ocean energy trade mission from Nova Scotia. The project will bring together developers, supply chain companies and R&D organisations from Scotland and Canada, with the aim of encouraging and supporting closer trans-Atlantic collaboration on marine renewable energy technologies and projects.
“The accurate measurement and understanding turbulence, and particularly its impact on structures and performance, is a vital part of designing and deploying any wave or tidal technology” said FloWave Chief Executive Officer Stuart Brown. “To date, the techniques for measuring turbulence in the laboratory have been very different to those adopted at sea, making like-for-like comparisons from one environment to the other more difficult. At FloWave we have already completed valuable turbulence characterisation work with Rockland Scientific – specifically bringing their ocean-going instrument into the laboratory at FloWave back in 2014.”
Mr Brown added that the new agreement allows the partners to build on this work to deliver transferable turbulence measurement solutions that will enable all parties to dramatically improve their understanding of turbulence in fast tidal currents. The translation across the scales from test tank model to full scale installations in the real environment will address industry challenges such as device design for performance and reliability, accurate energy yield prediction for individual devices and the optimisation of array project layouts. These are all key parameters for the technical and commercial feasibility of tidal energy conversion projects.
According to Rockland Scientific Business Development Director Jeremy Hancyk,formal collaboration agreement with FloWave, supported by Innovate UK and Canadian funding agencies leverages Rockland Scientific’s complementary expertise to accelerate the further development of the company’s turbulence measurement technology to smaller footprint, higher spatial resolution laboratory installations.
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