FloWave and Rockland Scientific join forces in turbulent waters
Agreement paves way for broader collaboration on measuring turbulence ‘from the lab to the ocean’
Two of the leading organisations in ocean energy research have pledged to work together to measure and understand the impact of turbulence on wave and tidal energy devices.
FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility at Edinburgh University and Canadian marine turbulence specialists Rockland Scientific will work together to develop tank-scale turbulence measurement technology, which can also be deployed at sea, on both sides of the Atlantic.
The two firms – which already completed a first round of technology testing in 2014 – announced the collaboration agreement at FloWave today [Tuesday June 2] during an ocean energy trade mission from Nova Scotia organised by Scottish Development International, the international arm of Scottish Enterprise and the Nova Scotia Department of Energy.
The mission brings together developers, supply chain companies and R&D organisations from Scotland and Canada, with the aim of encouraging and supporting closer trans-Atlantic collaboration on marine renewable energy technologies and projects.
“The accurate measurement and understanding turbulence, and particularly its impact on structures and performance, is a vital part of designing and deploying any wave or tidal technology”, says FloWave Chief Executive Officer Stuart Brown.
“To date, the techniques for measuring turbulence in the laboratory have been very different to those adopted at sea, making like-for-like comparisons from one environment to the other more difficult. At FloWave we have already completed valuable turbulence characterisation work with Rockland Scientific – specifically bringing their ocean-going instrument into the laboratory at FloWave back in 2014.
“This new agreement allows the partners to build on that pioneering work to deliver transferable turbulence measurement solutions that enable all parties to dramatically improve their understanding of turbulence in fast tidal currents. That this translates across the scales from test tank model scale to full scale installations in the real environment directly addresses industry challenges such as device design for performance and reliability, accurate energy yield prediction for individual devices and the optimization of array project layouts; all of which are key parameters for the technical and commercial feasibility of tidal energy conversion projects,” Brown concludes
Commenting on the agreement Rockland Scientific Business Development Director Jeremy Hancyk said:
“The 2014 proof-of-concept demonstration of Rockland Scientific’s field instrumentation in the FloWave tidal tank was just the beginning. This formal collaboration agreement with FloWave, supported by Innovate UK and Canadian funding agencies, leverages our complementary expertise to accelerate the further development of Rockland Scientific’s turbulence measurement technology to smaller footprint, higher spatial resolution laboratory installations.”
Commenting on the collaboration John McGinnes from SDI said:
"Scotland and Canada are both making tremendous strides towards the commercialisation of tidal energy technologies and this trade mission is helping to bring both sides of the Atlantic get together to address sectoral challenges and drive the industry forward. We look forward to more collaborations between Canadian and Scottish companies in the future."
Notes for editors
For photos, video or animations of FloWave, please click on this link (or paste link in browser):
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tlsv1hpd0u8138k/AACHbGMuwHg9IEQIrTmn8Ws0a?dl=0
About the FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility
The FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility, located at Edinburgh University’s King’s Buildings campus, is a 25 metre circular pool that can recreate complex waves and fast currents for project sites around the UK, Europe and beyond.
Able to replicate normal, challenging and extreme events at scale within its fully instrumented circular test tank, the FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility enables industry and academia to refine concepts, improve performance, and de-risk designs in a fully controllable and safe way at relatively low cost. Thus designs can be refined in the lab and deployed ‘right first time’ in the ocean, saving both money and time, and potentially reputation too.
With scale waves greater than 24m, currents faster than 14 knots, and a huge test area equivalent to more than 2 km2 of ocean, the FloWave tank is also large enough for testing larger devices up to 1/10th scale, for validating CFD models, and for assessing new deployment strategies too.
Rockland Scientific Inc.
Rockland Scientific is an internationally recognised instrumentation manufacturer specializing in the design and development of turbulence measurement systems for marine environments. RSI instruments are used in coastal areas, limnological environments, and in the deep sea down to 6000m. Since its founding in 2005 Rockland Scientific has delivered 135 instrument systems and installation in 21 countries.
For further information please contact:
Neil Davidson, Media and Public Affairs consultant to FloWave.
M: +44 7545 735402 E: neil@neildavidson.org