Project aims to cut costs in wave and tidal energy
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Technology
The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and the Innovation Centre for Sensor & Imaging Systems ( CENSIS ) are working on a project that could see a new type of sensor installed on the blades of subsea tidal turbines to monitor interaction with marine life
The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and the Innovation Centre for Sensor & Imaging Systems (CENSIS) are working on a project that could see a new type of sensor installed on the blades of subsea tidal turbines to monitor interaction with marine life.
The research aims to improve the monitoring of activity around subsea tidal installations and provide a warning when there is a risk of a collision with a tidal device.
The partners will assess whether sensor technology from other industries can be employed to detect, monitor and forewarn of potential collisions with tidal energy devices, or if a new sensor technology is needed.
The two organisations said that current monitoring processes can be expensive and involve teams of watchers on the seashore and a mixture of subsea listening devices.
Regulations state that developers must analyse the environment around a proposed site for two years prior to installation, as well as during the construction phase and throughout the plant’s operation of up to 25 years.
ORE Catapult project manager Vicky Coy said: “Our primary concern is safety: the safety of both the natural environment in which we want to operate and of the equipment we want to install and use to generate energy.
“To achieve that, we must design reliable monitoring systems that confirm these systems can be comfortably integrated into the subsea environment.
“But, we also need to make the technology cost effective. Another aspect of this project is to simplify and reduce the costs from what is, in effect, the subsea equivalent of the planning process.
“Tidal energy developers tend to be small and medium-sized companies with limited resources, so any costs which can be removed at the same time as improving safety will be welcomed by the industry.
“We’ve had a lot of positive engagement from both the business and academic communities, and we’re looking to harness this support further when we move to the next stages of this initiative.”
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- Project Execution
- Process Engineering & Project Management
- Wave & Tidal Energy
- Environment Protection and Pollution control
- Project Monitoring & Evaluation