TIDAL-EC
Projects > Ongoing
CONTRACTOR
European Commission – FP7
TOTAL PROJECT INVESTMENT
€ 1.35M
PROJECT DURATION
24 months
CONSORTIUM
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY CENTRE LIMITED NAREC RTD
MINESTO AB
SINTEF ENERGI
FiberSensing – Sistemas Avançados de Monitorização, S.A.
THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
TOCARDO INTERNATIONAL
OCEAN FLOW ENERGY LTD
STATUS
Started in Q3 2014
Tidal Energy Converter Cost Reduction via Power Take Off Optimisation – TIDAL-EC
The TIDAL-EC project proposes a set of research and development activities to substantially improve the economic competitiveness of a key developing sector of the renewable energy market: that of tidal stream power generation. Two of the largest and most critical components of any mainstream tidal energy converter (TEC) are the power take off (PTO) system (the shaft, bearings and other equipment which connects the turbine blades with the generator) and the electrical generator itself. The project partners plan to conduct vital research and concept design activities to determine the optimum design of a TEC power take off system and permanent magnet generator (PMG). These radically optimised systems will improve reliability, increase power conversion efficiency and facilitate reduction in the cost of tidal power. In turn, the results of this project will also help SME tidal developers (and their SME suppliers) to be able to offer warranties and guarantees to end customers (European Energy Utilities) and enable large scale roll out of tidal energy in the EU; supporting diversification of the European energy mix and helping to achieve European 2020 renewable energy and carbon emission reduction targets.
The TIDAL-EC project proposes a set of research and development activities to substantially improve the economic competitiveness of a key developing sector of the renewable energy market: that of tidal stream power generation. Two of the largest and most critical components of any mainstream tidal energy converter (TEC) are the power take off (PTO) system (the shaft, bearings and other equipment which connects the turbine blades with the generator) and the electrical generator itself. The project partners plan to conduct vital research and concept design activities to determine the optimum design of a TEC power take off system and permanent magnet generator (PMG). These radically optimised systems will improve reliability, increase power conversion efficiency and facilitate reduction in the cost of tidal power. In turn, the results of this project will also help SME tidal developers (and their SME suppliers) to be able to offer warranties and guarantees to end customers (European Energy Utilities) and enable large scale roll out of tidal energy in the EU; supporting diversification of the European energy mix and helping to achieve European 2020 renewable energy and carbon emission reduction targets.