About

Reduction of carbon emissions and the generation of renewable energy combine to form the greatest challenge of our age.

Our research addresses the development and evaluation of models to simulate the loading, performance and environmental impact of devices for generating electricity from three renewable sources:

• Offshore wind
• Ocean waves
• Tidal streams

Offshore wind already provides a substantial contribution to UK electricity demand and more than 28 GW of capacity is expected to be installed at the Round 3 deployment sites off the UK coast. However, there are major engineering challenges associated with increasing commercial viability, particularly as deployments move into deeper water.

Wave and tidal energy combined could provide a similar electricity supply to the planned offshore wind deployments. Such technologies also represent a major new export market for the UK and Europe.

A key strand of our research concerns understanding the fluid dynamics that influence energy yield and loading of devices deployed in arrays. Energy yield is of crucial importance for investors assessing project viability and to accurately assess environmental changes due to energy extraction. Accurate prediction of extreme loads enables design certification and will enable development of lower-cost designs.