United Kingdom Centre for Marine Energy Research
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Engineering
Abstract
The UK Centre for Marine Energy Research (UKCMER) is being funded as the third phase of Research Councils UK's flagship SuperGen marine programme. UKCMER aims to:1. conduct world-class fundamental and applied research that assists the marine energy sector in the UK to reliably and dependably accelerate deployment rates and ensure sustained growth in generating capacity to meet the 2020 targets,2. expand and more effectively operate an inclusive network of academic researchers, industry partners and international collaborators, and3. continue to provide the highest quality of doctoral training and knowledge transfer in partnership with industry to build intellectual and human capacity for the marine energy sector.The Centre will achieve these aims through three closely integrated activities: Firstly the operation of a network of excellence which draws together marine energy researchers and developers from UK academia, industry, and the wider international community; Secondly, undertaking a focussed and directed programme of industry driven fundamental research to address issues affecting the push to meet the ambitious deployment target of installing 2GW of generating capacity by 2020; and, finally, the provision of a training programme to develop the knowledge and understanding of both the next next and present generations of marine energy professionals. The five year research programme will be guided by the marine energy industry, through a formally constituted Research Advisory Forum, to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of the sector. Based on this advice, a series of thematic workshops is being organised to shape future research programmes and build teams of researchers and developers who are able to seek funding from other organisations, such as the technology strategy board (TSB), energy technologies institute (ETI), and European Commission (EC). The research output from the Centre and updates from project and technology developers will be presented at the Annual Assembly, held in November each year. The bi-annual, week long, residential short courses, which form part of the doctoral training programme, are open to participants from industry as well as PhD and EngD students and offer continuing professional development (CPD) credits. In addition to the PhD students funded by EPSRC as part of this project, the Centre is engaging with the KTP management centres to fund additional EngD studentships through knowledge transfer partnership with industry.
Planned Impact
Academic Impact: The academic marine energy research community will benefit from the proposed activity through: direct expansion of understanding within the designated priority themes; enhancement of opportunities for collaboration between specialist academic groups within the network; communication of this new understanding within the consortium and associated network; enhancement of opportunities for researcher-developer feedback, through the operation of the broader R&D community of which the proposed consortium and network are a part; enhancement of direct communication between the research, development, legislative and policy stakeholders to ensure that ongoing and future research is appropriately targeted for immediate and future requirements of the marine energy sector; support of the next generation of academic specialists in the field of marine energy through ongoing career development of post doctoral research assistant within the consortium; development of the next generation of professional researchers, academic and industrial, through support and guidance of doctoral students within the consortium and affiliate members. Economic and Societal Impact: The marine energy sector has often been characterised by lost opportunities to benefit from appropriate communication of available fundamental knowledge and experience. Just as academics will benefit from communication of developer experience of design and deployment, the developers will benefit from ready access through the consortium and its associated network to the very latest enhancements of understanding. In addition they will benefit from being able to access the researcher experience, which has been enhanced by the direct research and enhanced communication allowed by the communication within the consortium. The consortium will generate a considerable cohort of PhD graduates, many of whom will enter employment within the broader marine renewable energy sector, but outside of the academic community, where their expertise and skills will enhance the knowledge base. Experience within Supergen Marine I and II has suggested that the enhancement of the direct human resource available to the sector has had direct benefit. The developer community will also benefit from the single-point-of contact represented by the PI in his role at Champion . The UK has been a pioneer in the development of marine energy since the 1970s. Since then, the international marine community has drawn heavily upon UK experience and understanding. Activity within the consortium will further this interchange, with prospective benefits for UK export (IP and hardware) opportunities. An enhanced marine renewable industry will benefit the UK itself in at least two direct manners: employment in a new energy industry will have a direct benefit to the economy; significant proportions of marine capacity in the electricity generation portfolio will displace fossil fuel consumption with benefit to the environment and to energy security. At present, the marine sector is too small to significantly impact on either of these benefits. At present, the technology is seen as too immature and expensive to offer sufficiently attractive investment, which would drive future large scale expansion, although support mechanisms such as ROCS and the Marine Renewable Deployment Fund are intended to enhance the commercial attractiveness. Research and communication of the results of the research associated with this proposal, will continue to remove barriers, both real and perceived, to cost reduction. In addition, enhanced understanding of environmental impacts will reduce uncertainties which would otherwise result in over cautious planning constraints.
Organisations
Publications
Lv X
(2011)
Numerical simulation of overflow at vertical weirs using a hybrid level set/VOF method
in Advances in Water Resources
Neill S
(2014)
Inter-annual and inter-seasonal variability of the Orkney wave power resource
in Applied Energy
Garcia-Teruel A
(2020)
Hull geometry optimisation of wave energy converters: On the choice of the optimisation algorithm and the geometry definition
in Applied Energy
Garcia-Teruel A
(2021)
Hull geometry optimisation of wave energy converters: On the choice of the objective functions and the optimisation formulation
in Applied Energy
Neill S
(2013)
Wave power variability over the northwest European shelf seas
in Applied Energy
Malki R
(2013)
A coupled blade element momentum - Computational fluid dynamics model for evaluating tidal stream turbine performance
in Applied Mathematical Modelling
Masters I
(2013)
The influence of flow acceleration on tidal stream turbine wake dynamics: A numerical study using a coupled BEM-CFD model
in Applied Mathematical Modelling
Pascal R
(2012)
Parametric models for the performance of wave energy converters
in Applied Ocean Research
Saulnier J
(2012)
Refined sea state analysis from an array of four identical directional buoys deployed off the Northern Cornish coast (UK)
in Applied Ocean Research
Weller S
(2013)
Experimental measurements of the complex motion of a suspended axisymmetric floating body in regular and near-focused waves
in Applied Ocean Research
Zacharioudaki A
(2011)
Shoreline evolution under climate change wave scenarios
in Climatic Change
Draycott S
(2016)
The SPAIR method: Isolating incident and reflected directional wave spectra in multidirectional wave basins
in Coastal Engineering
Robinson A
(2015)
The effect of inlet design on the flow within a combined waves and current flumes, test tank and basins
in Coastal Engineering
Stratigaki V
(2012)
LARGE SCALE EXPERIMENTS ON FARMS OF HEAVING BUOYS TO INVESTIGATE WAKE DIMENSIONS, NEAR-FIELD AND FAR-FIELD EFFECTS
in Coastal Engineering Proceedings
Lv X
(2015)
A Preconditioned Implicit Free-Surface Capture Scheme for Large Density Ratio on Tetrahedral Grids
in Communications in Computational Physics
Karunarathna H
(2011)
Analysis of key parameters in a diffusion type beach profile evolution model
in Continental Shelf Research
Garcia-Teruel A.
(2021)
Joint optimisation of geometry and mass distribution of wave energy converters
in Developments in Renewable Energies Offshore - Proceedings the 4th International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore, RENEW 2020
Masters I
(2015)
A Comparison of Numerical Modelling Techniques for Tidal Stream Turbine Analysis
in Energies
Mason-Jones A
(2012)
Non-dimensional scaling of tidal stream turbines
in Energy
Bahaj A
(2013)
Shaping array design of marine current energy converters through scaled experimental analysis
in Energy
Herduin M
(2016)
Abrasion process between a fibre mooring line and a corroded steel element during the transit and commissioning of a marine renewable energy device
in Engineering Failure Analysis
Pillai A
(2015)
Offshore wind farm electrical cable layout optimization
in Engineering Optimization
Blackmore T
(2013)
Influence of turbulence on the drag of solid discs and turbine simulators in a water current
in Experiments in Fluids
Hashemi M
(2014)
A coupled tide-wave model for the NW European shelf seas
in Geophysical & Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
Forehand D
(2016)
A Fully Coupled Wave-to-Wire Model of an Array of Wave Energy Converters
in IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy
Stansby P
(2013)
Breaking wave loads on monopiles for offshore wind turbines and estimation of extreme overturning moment
in IET Renewable Power Generation
Crozier R
(2013)
Analysis, design and testing of a novel direct-drive wave energy converter system
in IET Renewable Power Generation
McCombes T
(2011)
Unsteady wake modelling for tidal current turbines
in IET Renewable Power Generation
McNaughton J
(2013)
A simple sliding-mesh interface procedure and its application to the CFD simulation of a tidal-stream turbine
in International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids
Blackmore T
(2013)
Inlet grid-generated turbulence for large-eddy simulations
in International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics
Marsh G
(2016)
Review and application of Rainflow residue processing techniques for accurate fatigue damage estimation
in International Journal of Fatigue
Afgan I
(2013)
Turbulent flow and loading on a tidal stream turbine by LES and RANS
in International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow
Harnois V
(2015)
Assessment of entanglement risk to marine megafauna due to offshore renewable energy mooring systems
in International Journal of Marine Energy
Nambiar A
(2015)
Effects of hydrodynamic interactions and control within a point absorber array on electrical output
in International Journal of Marine Energy
Lok K
(2014)
Optimisation of a clutch-rectified power take off system for a heaving wave energy device in irregular waves with experimental comparison
in International Journal of Marine Energy
McNatt J
(2013)
The cylindrical wave field of wave energy converters
in International Journal of Marine Energy
Edwards E
(2014)
Verification within wave resource assessments. Part 1: Statistical analysis
in International Journal of Marine Energy
Edwards E
(2014)
Verification within wave resource assessments. Part 2: Systematic trends in the fit of spectral values
in International Journal of Marine Energy
Thies P
(2016)
Accelerated reliability testing of articulated cable bend restrictor for offshore wind applications
in International Journal of Marine Energy
Folley M
(2013)
Validating a spectral-domain model of an OWC using physical model data
in International Journal of Marine Energy
Thies P
(2014)
A novel mooring tether for peak load mitigation: Initial performance and service simulation testing
in International Journal of Marine Energy
Nambiar A
(2016)
Optimising power transmission options for marine energy converter farms
in International Journal of Marine Energy
De Jesus Henriques T
(2014)
The effects of wave-current interaction on the performance of a model horizontal axis tidal turbine
in International Journal of Marine Energy
Gaurier B
(2015)
Tidal energy "Round Robin" tests comparisons between towing tank and circulating tank results
in International Journal of Marine Energy
Easton M
(2013)
Current Patterns in the Inner Sound (Pentland Firth) from Underway ADCP Data*
in Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
Karunarathna H.
(2011)
On modelling cross-shore beach morphology
in Journal of Coastal Research
Description | This project is now concluded. It explored some of the grand challenges facing the marine energy sector, including: upscaling to arrays and farms; extreme loadings and survival, novel systems, components and devices; environmental interaction and fatigue and reliability. The outputs, findings, impact, collaborations and industry and policy interaction were reported in the Phase 3 Monograph, available to download from the website. |
Exploitation Route | The work of UKCMER is influencing technology, policy, standards, regulation and practice across the tidal and wave energy sector. |
Sectors | Energy Environment |
URL | https://www.supergen-marine.org.uk/ |
Description | The findings of this collaborative project influenced technology, policy, standards, regulation and practice in the marine energy sector. |
First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
Sector | Energy |
Impact Types | Economic |