A collaborative project has been launched to test and analyse components in wave and tidal devices in a bid to increase energy output and ultimately drive down the cost of marine energy.
Three of the UK’s leading technology innovation, research and testing centres – The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) and the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (ARFC) – have teamed up on the project to better understand issues around component reliability. The project involves building a database identifying the common failure mechanisms of components.
As part of the project, EMEC will undertake a ‘forensic analysis’ of a variety of components that have failed to some degree across a range of wave and tidal energy devices, with AFRC providing support around component testing. The resulting report will be made available to support the sector in engineering design choices around components and materials.
This project is the first under a new Collaboration Agreement between ORE Catapult and EMEC. ORE Catapult’s Elaine Buck was seconded to EMEC in August 2014 to identify common areas in which the two organisations could pool their resources and work together on a series of practical projects designed to support the wave and tidal industry in the UK and abroad.
"Through our collaboration with EMEC, we are able to provide a much more joined up approach to supporting the UK’s wave and tidal sector, pooling our common expertise and test and demonstration assets to tackle some of the key technology innovation challenges facing the sector today," commented RE Catapult’s Strategy & Commercialisation Director Dr Stephen Wyatt. "This particular project also gives us the opportunity to work cross-Catapult with our colleagues at AFRC, part of the HVM Catapult, and other experts in the field who will help us get to the root cause of common industry failures."
