Multi-model investigation of tidal energy converter reliability

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Marine renewable energy from tides is a significant potential growth industry for the Atlantic Area. There is a barrier to growth due to uncertainty in the engineering design, resulting in technology that is too expensive and risky to attract financial investment. The MONITOR project aims to foster the growth of the tidal energy sector. It will investigate the forces acting on the blades and structures of Tidal Energy Converters (TEC) and their impact on reliability. This investigation will be carried out in an iterative fashion and will incorporate simulations, laboratory tests and testing at sea. The impact of the project will be better quantification of technical risk to TEC developers and more robust TEC designs, which will allow lower engineering safety factors, thus lowering cost while also improving reliability. The partners will identify critical parameters for the blades and support structure, allowing to design a monitoring system for the specific devices used in the investigation. This system will de-risk TEC development, improve reliability and thereby increase capacity factor (i.e., power generated as a proportion of theoretical capacity) and lower capital expenditure/ operating expenditure. This is a crucial challenge for the sector, and overcoming it will reduce risk, thus demonstrating TEC feasibility to investors and public bodies.

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