This application is for the development of a Tidal turbine blade design/manufacturing concept
that meets original equipment manufacturer (OEM) needs to reduce blade costs whilst
offering high reliability, durability and performance. This is seen as important step in
reducing the cost of energy of tidal turbine devices and making them competitive as energy
providers.
The new concept combines a novel blade design and manufacturing process, which can be
used for tidal turbines with blade lengths from 2.5m to 12m, with typical outputs from 100kW
to 1.5MW.
The cost is lower compared to other designs because it minimises the number of parts,
optimises the use of materials with respect to cost, and is designed to be manufactured using
an automated production process. This enables UK blade manufacturing to be competitive in a
global market.
The development of this concept will allow the fast-track development of Horizontal axis
turbine devices (as defined by European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC)) allowing existing
and new entrants into the tidal energy market to develop, prototype and commercialise
devices faster.
This project will support the UK government’s objective of generating 15% of the UKs
energy from renewable sources by 2020(1), with the potential to create 300 direct & 90
indirect jobs and could reduce CO2 emissions by 570,000T/year in the UK(2).
(1)Renewable UK – Wave and Tidal Energy in the UK – State of the Industry Report March
2011
(2)European Ocean Energy Association. Oceans of Energy European Ocean Energy Roadmap
2010 – 2050.