The next steps of RealTide technology

The marine renewable industry is investing in the development of renewable energy technologies, and tidal devices are generating exciting new possibilities for green energy.

Since 2018, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore and Bureau Veritas Solutions – Marine & Offshore, together with six partners - The University of Edinburgh, IFREMER, Sabella, EnerOcean, Ingeteam and 1-Tech - have been working on the RealTide R&D project funded by the European Union. The project focuses on reliability, design and materials, condition-based monitoring, tidal flow characterization and turbulence, and realistic simulation – both physical and numerical - of Tidal Energy Converters.

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An ambitious project in the making

RealTide is bringing together data from previous research and industrial projects in addition to field data measurements and tank tests to improve the knowledge of tidal flow.
In parallel, the partners have worked on a RealTide tool to calculate the power take-off forces and the resulting electrical output of a tidal energy converter using realistic environmental data. Studies on failure modes and reliability used in conjunction with studies on monitoring have been used as input into engineering work on the tidal rotor design.

These findings will help increase the performance and reliability of tidal energy converters, reduce their environmental impact and lower the costs of projects.

At the half-way stage, the consortium has produced three public reports: Failure Modes and Effect Analysis, Deployment and instrument specification for advanced flow characterizations and Generalized tide-to-wire models. These reports are available on the project website. A further 16 deliverables will be issued over the course of the project, with topics ranging from tidal device performance, to new materials for turbine blades, to CFD modeling. Reports, guidelines and a database will be made publically available.

Moving forward with RealTide

On September 3 2019, seven members of the RealTide consortium – including two Bureau Veritas experts – will attend the European Tidal and Wave Energy Conference (EWTEC) in Naples. During a 90-minute workshop, they will discuss their progress and consult energy experts on ways to improve future studies.

For Bureau Veritas, RealTide presents an opportunity to increase our expertise in the area of tidal energy, as well as collaborate with prominent marine renewable energy researchers. Additionally, when the project ends in 2020, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore will be able to update an existing regulation, the NI 603 Current and Tidal Turbines, based on project results.

Photo credits ©Sabella