The TiME project consortium (consisting of partners Partrac, Ocean Array Systems, ABPmer and IT Power) has announced that the Guidance formulated from the TiME (Turbulence in Marine Environments) project is due to be published today (23 Nov 2015).
The project, funded by the Scottish Government and managed by the Carbon Trust through the Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) Array Technology Innovation Programme, was developed to improve the understanding of the effect of marine turbulence on tidal arrays in Scottish waters.
Turbulence was measured by Partrac in the challenging tidal environments of both the Sound of Islay and the Inner Sound, Pentland Firth, using novel methods and technologies so that each can be evaluated, and turbulence could be mapped across differing tidal energy development sites.
ABPmer then incorporated the data in resource characterisation, Ocean Array Systems (OAS) has provided turbulence characterisation and hydrodynamic analyses, and IT Power has contributed their knowledge of engineering design, device performance and tidal turbine array modelling. The project team used this wealth of information and research to develop Turbulence Guidance through extensive engagement with the tidal energy industry.
The guidance will also be submitted to the wave and tidal knowledge network, a platform hosted by the ORE Catapult. The TiME project will also be represented in a pre-conference workshop at the International Tidal Energy Summit (ITES) at the Hilton Tower Bridge, London.
Sam Athey, Director and co-owner at Glasgow-based Partrac, said “This has been an exciting and challenging project to manage. With the successful attainment of 100% data return from innovative turbulence measurement surveys, and assessment and classification of turbulence by our expert partners at OAS, ABPmer, and IT Power, the project team has developed Guidance that provides a framework for the tidal industry to measure, classify and analyse turbulence for commercial tidal arrays.”
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