Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) is planning to build a testing facility for offshore wind turbines at the Clydeport Hunterton site, in North Ayrshire, Scotland. The new facility will be an extension of the already existing Centre for Engineering Excellence for Renewable Energy (CEERE) in Glasgow. The center has been established in partnership with major wind turbine suppliers. It will be used for testing of up to three next generation offshore wind turbines at a time. The new facility is subject to approvals by the North Ayrshire Council. If permitted, construction could start in 2012.
Category: Research
SSE planning offshore wind turbine testing facility in Scotland
April 5th, 2011 | Posted in General WindUK DECC gives green light for DeltaStream tidal energy device testing in Wales waters
April 1st, 2011 | Posted in Hydro
The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has given approval for the testing of a 1.2 MW tidal energy device called DeltaStream, developed by Tidal Energy Limited. The device will be tested for 12 months in Ramsey Sound, Pembrokeshire, generating enough electrical energy to supply about 1000 average homes in the area. Before deployment, the test device will be assembled in West Wales.
Fraunhofer IWES to launch new blade testing facility in early summer
April 1st, 2011 | Posted in Wind
Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy System Technology (IWES) is preparing for a new generation of wind turbines, whose blades will reach 90 meters in length. As the demand for larger wind turbine grows, especially in the offshore wind industry, there is a need to establish test facilities which can perform testing and certification of the extra large blades. Fraunhofer IWES has been involved in the development of a new testing facility in Bremerhaven. The new facility will be able to work with up to 90 meter wind turbine blades, and rotate and tilt a 1000 ton concrete and steel mounting block.
Doosan to locate R&D base in Scotland
March 24th, 2011 | Posted in Wind
According to an announcement made by the Scottish First Minister, Doosan Power Systems (South Korea) is to locate its renewables research and development base in Scotland. This move will secure investments of about GBP 170 million over the next ten years, and create new jobs. Doosan signed a memorandum of understanding with Scottish Enterprise regarding the establishment of the R&D Centre of Excellence for Renewables.
Abengoa and Wavebob in partnership for wave energy technology
March 22nd, 2011 | Posted in Hydro
Abengoa and Wavebob, a company involved in developing wave energy harnessing technology, have announced a partnership. The two companies will collaborate on research, development and commercialization of wave energy systems. Wavebob's wave energy converter uses the vertical movement of the waves to push pressurized water onto a hydroturbine which generates power. At full scale, the device could produce more than 1 MW of power, and the technology is easily scalable to build wave energy converter farms with about 100 MW of installed capacity.
Danish and Chinese cooperating on advanced wind turbine materials
March 22nd, 2011 | Posted in Wind
Wind blades are amount the most critical parts of a wind turbine. With the growing demand for more energy efficient and larger wind turbines, it is necessary to develop new materials for blades, which will be able to withstand the stresses imposed on these wind turbine elements. Risø DTU's Materials Research Division has received a grant from the Danish Council for Strategic Research. The goal of the research is to develop computational tools for optimizing the microstructure of materials used for manufacturing wind turbine blades. The institute will collaborate with the China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) on this research. Risø DTU has collaborated with this university for several years now, hosting several students supported by scholarships from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
US DoE and Masdar testing new PV coating technology
March 1st, 2011 | Posted in Solar
The US Department of Energy (DoE) and Masdar are going to collaborate in testing a new special coating material to be used in the PV industry. PV solar installations suffer from numerous handicaps which are a result of real life operation conditions. One of these negative operational factors are moisture and cementation problems which occur on the surface of solar modules. Basically, dust sticks to the surface of the modules, and is glued to the surface with the help of moisture which accumulates as condensation from the surrounding air ("morning dew"), and creates a coating which grows over time reducing the amount of sunlight that gets through to the reactive layers in the solar modules. This significantly reduces PV module performance, and requires constant cleaning of the surfaces, a task that becomes quite a chore when you have to clean hundreds of thousands of modules at a large scale facility.
Minesto bags GBP 350k grant for trialing undersea kite technology
February 28th, 2011 | Posted in Hydro
UK based Minesto (Saab Group spin-off) has received a GBP 350,000 grant from the Carbon Trust for first seagoing trials of the company's seakite technology, called Deep Green. Basically, it's a kite, except it is tethered to the seabed, and it "flies" in a water environment, under the surface of the sea/ocean. The basic principle of its movement is the same as with normal kites, except the fluid that does the work has a much higher density (water), resulting in much greater force exerted on the kite. The tether is attached to a turbine, which spins using the kite's and current's pulling energy.
Van Oord planting 100 meter meteo-mast in the North Sea
February 28th, 2011 | Posted in General
Van Oord annnounced the company has been hired by RWE to build (plant) a 100 meter meteorological mast in the North Sea. This mast will have measuring equipment installed, and will record data having to do with maritime meteorological influences. It will be located about 75 km off the coast, from the IJmuiden offshore wind development region.
ETI issues RFP for UK tidal energy resource modelling project
February 25th, 2011 | Posted in Hydro
Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has issed a request for proposals (RFP) for a project which is to improve understanding of the way UK's tidal energy resources interact with extraction systems, as these systems are deployed by 2050. The so called Tidal Modelling Project, will provide information about the different locations of the deployed systems, and their interactions and effects on each other.
