ICMS

Marine and Tidal Energy workshops

Nov 04, 2009 - Nov 05, 2009

ICMS, 14 India Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6EZ

Organisers

Name	Institution
Earl, Steven	RenewNet (Marine)
Forehand, David	University of Edinburgh (Marine)
Grist, Eric	Environmental Research Institute (Marine and Tidal)
Ingram, David	University of Edinburgh (Marine and Tidal)
Side, Jonathan	ICIT Orkney, Heriot-Watt University (Tidal)
Vanneste, Jacques	University of Edinburgh

Presentations are now available for download below. Minutes of the 4th November discussions can be downloaded here.

On Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 November 2009, at 14 India Street, Edinburgh, two linked workshops on Marine and Tidal Energy are being hosted by the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS), supported by Bridging the Gaps and RenewNet. ICMS exists to support research in the mathematical sciences and promote collaboration between industry and academia in the area of mathematics.

The objectives for the workshops are to bring together researchers in the areas of engineering, mathematics and biology/ecology with industry and policy makers for a series of problem scoping discussions which will hopefully lead onto further collaborations. 

There is no charge to attend the workshops, at which refreshments (buffet lunch and evening wine reception) will be provided. Attendance at either or both of the days is possible: please indicate on the registration form whether you will attend on the 4th, 5th or both days.

Wednesday 4 November: Industrial Problems in Marine Energy
During the workshop there will be three short presentations given by industrialists regarding a problem within their organisation whose solution may require combined mathematical and engineering expertise, perhaps as part of a multi-disciplinary approach.  There will be an opportunity for an open discussion at the meeting on these problems between the industrialists and members of the audience, which will be comprised of academics from mathematics and engineering departments (and other related disciplines) from a number of institutions.  If you are from industry, we would be very grateful if you could contribute to this event by presenting such a problem from your own organisation.  Equally, we would be very pleased if you could attend to simply participate in the discussions.

Thursday 5 November: Assessing hydrodynamic modifications affected by tidal energy extraction and their possible ecological consequences
The ecological implications of removal of hydrodynamic energy from the marine environment are poorly understood. In particular, little is presently known about how tidal energy extraction may affect the physical processes on which marine organisms might depend. Marine organisms are often reliant on the flow of water for the dispersal of propagules, waste products and transport of gases, and the supply of nutrients and food. Understanding how tidal energy devices might influence flow conditions and sediment transportation on a local and regional scale will thus be a crucial factor in minimizing ecological impacts of future tidal energy extraction.

During the workshop each of the 3 speakers will present an overview of their research area and insights into the ecological issues which will then be followed by 30 minutes of round table discussions where interdisciplinary teams discuss the questions/problems/issues raised within the talk and ways in which different research areas could work together to obtain greater understanding.

The speakers are:
Professor Jonathan Side from ICIT in Orkney, Heriot-Watt
Professor Jonathan Sharples, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratories (Liverpool)
Dr Scott Couch, Institute for Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh

 

Arrangements

Attendance at either or both days is possible: please indicate on the registration form whether you will attend on the 4th, 5th or both days.

Venue
Both workshops will take place at ICMS, 14 India Street, the birthplace of James Clerk Maxwell. 

The seminar room at 14 India Street has whiteboards, 2 overhead projectors, a data projector and laptop. If you are a Speaker, we ask that you use our ICMS laptop for your presentation which you may bring on a memory stick or CD.

Wireless access is available throughout the building. There are also 4 public PCs which may be used at any time for internet access and to check email.

Travel to ICMS
For information and advice about travel to Edinburgh and finding ICMS, please follow the link entitled 'Information for Visitors' at the top right of the webpage. A map of the city centre showing the location of ICMS is available here .

Accommodation
You are asked to reserve your own accommodation.

A list of Edinburgh accommodation of various sorts and prices is detailed below

The Walton Hotel, 79 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6SD

+44 (0)131 556 1137 - www.waltonhotel.com - enquiries@waltonhotel.com

Ballantrae West End Hotel, 6 Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EP
+44 (0) 131 225 7033 - http://www.ballantraewestend.co.uk/ - westend@ballantraehotel.co.uk

Ardenlee Guesthouse, 9 Eyre Place, Edinburgh EH3 5ES
+44 (0)131 556 2838 - www.ardenlee.co.uk - info@ardenleeguesthouse.com

The Dene, 7 Eyre Place, Edinburgh EH3 5ES
+44 (0)131 556 2700 - www.deneguesthouse.com - deneguesthouse@yahoo.co.uk

Edinburgh Central Youth Hostel, 9 Haddington Place, Off Leith Walk, Edinburgh, EH7 4AL
+44 (0)131 534 2090 - http://www.syha.org.uk/SYHA/Web/Site/Hostels/EdinburghCentral.asp

Other accommodation can be found at this link

Meals and Refreshments
Wednesday 4 November: Lunch, refreshments and an evening wine reception will be provided.
Thursday 5 November: Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
There will be no cost to participants for this catering.

 

Programme

Wednesday 4 November 2009 - Marine Energy

12.30 - 13.30	Registration and Lunch (provided in the Exhibition Room)
13.30 - 14.00	Welcome and Introduction PDF of presentation
14.00 - 15.00	Industry Problem 1 Sondre Jacobsen (Pelagic Power Ltd) W2-POWER - Exploring wind and waves PDF of presentation Talk will be followed by open discussion
15.00 - 16.00	Industry Problem 2 Roger Cox (Ocean Flow Energy Ltd) The Evopod Tidal Stream Turbine PDF of presentation Talk will be followed by open discussion
16.00 - 16.30	Coffee/Tea
16.30 - 17.30	Problem 3 Ben Child (University of Edinburgh) The Fisher-Price guide to wave farm design: a simple new approach to optimising array configuration PDF of presentation Talk will be followed by open discussion
17.30 - 18.00	Funding (BtG, RenewNet) PDF of presentation
18.00 - 19.30	Wine Reception

Thursday 5 November 2009 - Tidal Energy

09.30 - 10.00	Registration and coffee
10.00 - 10.15	Welcome and Introduction PDF of presentation
10.15 - 11.15	Professor Jonathan Side (ICIT Orkney, Heriot-Watt University) What should we measure, and why, where and how? PDF of presentation
11.15 - 11.45	Coffee/Tea
11.45 - 12.45	Professor Jonathan Sharples (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratories) The role of physics in shelf sea ecosystems PDF of presentation
12.45 - 14.15	Lunch (provided in the Exhibition Room)
14.15 - 15.15	Dr Scott Couch (University of Edinburgh) Hypotheses on hydrodynamic modifications due to harvesting of tidal energy PDF of presentation
15.15 - 15.30	Closing Remarks

 

Presentations:

Presentation Details
Child, Ben
The Fisher-Price guide to wave farm design: a simple new approach to optimising array configuration
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Q. Has our job as engineers finished when we have finally designed, built and deployed the ‘perfect’ wave energy device? A. Unfortunately not. Just as it is not generally worthwhile to place an isolated wind turbine in a particularly windy location, we must consider installing not one but many converters in a given area of ocean. In this talk, I will be addressing one of the important subsequent questions: How do you arrange the devices within an array in order to maximise efficiency? I will outline two ways of tackling this complex optimisation problem and present the array layouts produced by each. The first is essentially a common-sense approach guided by some simple calculations, and produces some surprisingly good results. The second method involves the application of a Genetic Algorithm, requiring more computation but less in the way of understanding. Finally I will evaluate the performance of the arrays in a range of wave climates and compare the two approaches to array generation.
Couch, Scott
Hypotheses on hydrodynamic modifications due to harvesting of tidal energy
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The large scale response of the tidal hydrodynamic system to harvesting of energy is as yet not well understood. It is inevitable that some modification to the existing system will take place. These modifications will have important implications for the design of harvesting devices and project economics, and potential environmental and ecological consequences. Understanding these modifications is consequently of significant intellectual and economic interest. An overview of enhanced research led understanding arising from the Supergen Marine consortium will be presented. To conclude, various hypotheses on the tidal hydrodynamic response to energy harvesting will be presented by analogy with other tidal physical processes.
Cox, Roger
The Evopod tidal stream turbine
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Evopod is a floating, tethered, semi-submersible tidal stream turbine. The presentation will discuss the data acquired through tenth scale trials in Strangford Narrows and analysis using Orcaflex, Diadem and WT_Perf.
Jacobsen, Sondre
W2-POWER - Exploring wind and waves
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W2-POWER is a concept combining standard wind turbines and wave pumps in a cost efficient, light semi-sub platform. Combining wind and waves significantly extends the time window of energy delivery, and the W2P-concept presents a number of innovative advantages: • World first combined use of semisubmersible structures, halving weight and cost. • Transportable and accessible - even during winter in the North Sea. • Negligible environmental footprint. • Significantly larger time window for power delivery The concept is in early stage verification, pending a 1/40 scale prototype. Calculations and estimates we wish to explore further are: • Forces generated onto the structure from one wave pump • How will the arrays of wave pumps affect the overall stability the semisubmersible construction • What effect on stability and vibrations will the wind turbines have on the construction • What kind of vibrations, interference or other transient stresses can arise when both wave pumps and wind turbines engage and are in operation • How irregular waves, swells and wind and other transient forces affect the overall construction and operation • Forces on moorings and effects on stability from mooring • Dimensions of mooring
Sharples, Jonathan
The role of physics in shelf sea ecosystems
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Physics underpins the structure of marine ecosystems in a way that, as terrestrial animals, we often find it difficult to appreciate. Turbulence fundamentally determines the light and nutrients received by the single-celled plankton that form the base of the marine food chain. Larger marine animals, particularly those living in or on the seabed, have had to adapt to the stresses of strong tidal currents and have seasonal changes in their metabolic rates finely tuned to the changes in water temperature. The seasonal cycle of heating by the sun switches much of our shelf seas between vertically mixed and thermally stratified states during the year; this cycle of stratification/mixing controls the growth of the photo-synthetic plankton which feed the rest of the marine food chain (and which, incidentally, provide us with half of our oxygen). Areas where the competition between solar heating and tidal mixing is finely balanced are regions of particular importance to marine life and, ultimately, to commercial fisheries. Foraging by top marine predators is often very patchy, with localised regions providing the bulk of their food either because there is more food there or because some aspect of the physics makes the food more available. I will use examples to illustrate these links between physics and marine life, and point to areas relevant to at-sea power generation where our knowledge or predictive capabilities has significant gaps.
Side, Jonathan
What should we measure, and why, where and how?
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This presentation, from a non-mathematician, highlights some of the challenges of predicting the ecological effects of the removal of tidal energy (in conditions also often exposed to waves) and of the removal of wave energy (in conditions also experiencing tidal currents). The importance of linking metrics of biological change to relevant physical parameters is discussed using an illustration of discharges of oil from petroleum installations in the North Sea. The challenge with marine renewables is seen as determining what to measure, where and why. In particular the difficulties of distinguishing environmental disturbances, arising as a consequence of climate change, from those occurring in response to the removal of energy are ones that must be addressed, and hence the need for (cost sensible) measurement/modelling of physical parameters. Some research already underway is discussed.

Participants

Name	Institution
Bailey, Helen	Institute for Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh (Marine)
Bin, Li	Institute for Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh (Marine)
Bloomfield, Jenny	Heriot-Watt University
Brodie, Mairead	University of Edinburgh (Marine)
Buschle, Bill	University of Edinburgh (Marine and Tidal)
Byatt-Smith, John	University of Edinburgh (Marine and Tidal)
Child, Ben	Institute for Energy Systems, Edinburgh University (Marine)
Couch, Scott	University of Edinburgh (Tidal)
Cox, Roger	Ocean Flow Energy (Marine and Tidal)
Danioux, Eric	University of Edinburgh (Tidal)
Earl, Steven	RenewNet (Marine)
Euridge, Sam	Heriot-Watt University (Marine and Tidal)
Finney, Stephen	University of Strathclyde (Marine)
Forehand, David	University of Edinburgh (Marine)
Gretton, Gareth	University of Edinburgh (Marine and Tidal)
Griffeth, Stephen	University of Edinburgh (Marine and Tidal)
Grist, Eric	Environmental Research Institute (Marine and Tidal)
Ingram, David	University of Edinburgh (Marine and Tidal)
Jacobsen, Sondre	Pelargic Power Ltd (Marine)
Jones, Catherine	University of Strathclyde (Marine)
Keysan, Ozan	University of Edinburgh (Marine)
Krivtsov, Vladimir	Heriot Watt University (Marine and Tidal)
Lacey, Andrew	Heriot-Watt University
Maguire, Eoghan	University of Edinburgh (Marine)
McCombes, Tom	University of Strathclyde (Marine and Tidal)
Mcilvenny, Jason	Environmental Research Institute, UHI (Tidal)
Mottram, Nigel	University of Strathclyde (Tidal)
Murray, Stuart	University of Edinburgh (Marine and Tidal)
Ordonez-Sanchez, Stephanie Eugenia	University of Strathclyde (Marine)
Parker, David	University of Edinburgh (Marine)
Price, Alexandra	Institute for Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh (Marine)
Rae, Ian	Environmental Research Institute (Marine and Tidal)
Salter, Stephen	University of Edinburgh (Marine and Tidal)
Sharples, Jonathan	Proudman Oceanographic Laboratories (Tidal)
Shields, Mark	Environmental Research Institute (Marine and Tidal)
Side, Jonathan	ICIT Orkney, Heriot-Watt University (Tidal)
Steynor, Jeffrey	University of Edinburgh (Marine)
Vanneste, Jacques	University of Edinburgh
Wacher, Abigail	Durham University
Wallace, Robin	Institute for Energy Systems, Edinburgh University (Marine)