Top news, July 16 – 22, 2018

MarineEnergy.biz has compiled the top news from marine energy industry from July 16 – 22, 2018.

Final countdown starts for mint Cape Sharp Tidal turbine splash

A so-called ‘dry’ Cape Sharp Tidal turbine – denoting the fact it was never before deployed in sea – has been towed by the Atlantic Osprey vessel across the Bay of Fundy where to reach its installation site.

“We will be carrying out deployment operations at FORCE site over several days starting July 19, 2018. It is important to note that weather could play a factor in the actual start and/or completion date, and this has been considered as part of the overall deployment schedule,” the spokeswoman for Cape Sharp Tidal said in a statement.

PLAT-I steers to Grand Passage as demo anchors for public check

Nova Scotia’s Department of Energy has opened a 30-day public comment period for the Grand Passage tidal demonstration project on the day the PLAT-I tidal energy test platform entered Halifax Port.

The application for PLAT-I demo – up for public comments until August 16, 2018 – describes developers’ plans deploy the device for an off-grid demonstration for a period of a minimum of three months beginning in late summer, and into fall 2018.

DesignPro lifts veil off hydrokinetic device

Irish company DesignPro Renewables has unveiled its new and improved turbine design for its 25kW hydrokinetic device that will deployed at SEENEOH test site this September.

While the innovative, flow accelerating concept – originally developed by GKinetic Energy – remains the same, the new design features an integrated platform and technology that allows for the turbines to be raised out of the water easily to access blades and components most likely to fault without having to remove the entire device, according to DesignPro Renewables.

Wave energy materials get ‘concrete’ government support

Wave Energy Scotland (WES) has awarded contracts with a total value of £1.4 million to three innovation projects designed to support further investigation of promising structural materials and manufacturing concepts to be used in the construction of wave energy devices.

Each of the projects will take place over the next 9 months, according to Wave Energy Scotland.

RiaSoR2 uploads wave of directives

The Reliability in a Sea of Risk 2 (RiaSoR 2) project has published new reports on condition monitoring systems, numerical load analysis, and reliability assessment specifications for wave energy converters.

Building on first phase of the RiaSoR project, which developed a theoretical reliability assessment guideline for both wave and tidal energy converters – the second iteration of the project has released four reports for wave energy sector specifically.

The reports – developed by SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden (RISE), Alkit Communications, Cruz Atcheson Consulting Engineers, and Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult – feed the methodologies and training into the guideline developed in the first RiaSoR project.