The increasing amounts of renewable energy present on the national grid reduce C02 emissions caused by electrical power but they fit into an electrical grid designed for fossil fuels. Fossil fuels can be turned on and off at will and so are very good at matching variations in load. Renewable energy in the form of wind turbines is more variable (although that variability is much more predictable than most people think) and there is a need for existing power plants to operate much more flexibly to accommodate the changing power output from wind, tidal and solar power.
DTOcean is a European collaborative project funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development, more specifically under the call ENERGY 2013-1.
This project will design, build, install and operate an open ocean 4.5MW tidal energy farm in the Inner Sound in the Pentland Firth, off the Northern coast of Scotland. The project ("Clearwater") will demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of a multi-turbine tidal energy array, an essential step to catalyse development of commercial projects in the EU ocean energy industry. Project Clearwater provides a credible, robustly implemented transition from high cost single turbine demonstration deployments of marine turbines to economically viable multi-hundred turbine arrays in oceans and managed water assets across Europe and the wider global market.
This fundamental scientific research aims to investigate the dynamic loading, motion response, impact of vortex induced vibration and its suppression mechanism, and fatigue failure of subsea power cables subjected to combined 3-dimensional waves, currents, and turbulence.
Statement of the Project
Development of a very sound expertise on CO2 transportation infrastructure
Identification and understanding of uncertainties during integration of CO2 capture, compression, injection and reservoir units together with CO2 transportation system
Provide industry and academia with the required technical knowhow in this context
Answer the research question: Can energy storage radically improve off-grid and on-grid control in wave energy arrays? How can it be done?
Develop an electrical array model for wave energy, with energy storage and co-ordinated control
Strengthen the partnership between the UK and Chinese Institutions for future research collaboration
The energy supply sector is undergoing massive technological changes to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the climate is progressively changing creating new challenges for energy generation, networks and demand. The Adaptation and Resilience in Energy Systems (ARIES) project aims to understand how climate change will affect the UK gas and electricity systems and in particular its 'resilience'.
