VerdErg’s technology presented at the European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference

The 12th biennial European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (EWTEC) was held this year at University College Cork. This technical and scientific conference showcased over 300 papers to around 550 attendees to a pre-eminent international audience. In addition to the presentations on key topics, developments and challenges in marine renewable energy, attendees were also able to benefit from knowledge transfer and networking with peers from academia, research and industry. In particular, it was pleasing to see the latest innovative simulated and experimental research in tidal stream devices, wave energy systems, lagoon turbines and generators.

VerdErg’s consultant hydrodynamicist Dr Paul Bird of Brent Measurement Technology presented the paper ‘‘VETT’ – Reducing the Cost of Tidal Power Generation’ during the fifth tidal device development and testing session. Delegates were updated with the latest work in optimising VETT to enhance hydrodynamic efficiency; this research was conducted in collaboration with Graham Benham at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford and the Advanced Technology and Research team at Arup. The results of the bi-directional feasibility study on tidal VETT and how project economics influences the design and build and the successful outcome of the latest fish testing programme were also presented.

Conference proceedings, including the VETT research paper (citation below), will be available in due course here.

P. A. D. Bird, P. Roberts, G. Benham, S. Downie and A. Castrejon-Pita, 'VETT’– Reducing the Cost of Tidal Power Generation, Proc 12th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, 27th Aug - 1st Sept 2017, Cork, Ireland.