Three of the UK’s technology innovation, research and testing centres are working together on a joint project to test and analyse components in wave and tidal devices, to better understand issues around component reliability, improve performance and ultimately reduce the cost of marine energy.
The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult is working with the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) and the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (ARFC), part of the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult, to build a database identifying the common failure mechanisms of components.
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.
ORE Catapult’s Strategy & Commercialisation Director Dr Stephen Wyatt said: “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.
“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.”
In the coming weeks EMEC and AFRC will host a workshop, focusing on component testing. The workshop will target renewables developers, manufacturers and the supply chain for component production, and will cover a number of aspects of component testing including material selection and metallurgy, manufacturing methods, and opportunities for conducting component evaluation.
Image: ORE Catapult