Abstract
The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has been established in the UK as an open-sea grid-connected test facility for wave and tidal devices. Developers receive detailed site information regarding the resource available, environmental characteristics, and meteorological data. There is a range of additional support, including assistance with legislation and consenting, as well as technical and operational matters.
Whilst being primarily an operational test centre serving individual device developers, there is additional scope at EMEC for investigation of a range of unknown issues which need to be addressed by the wave and tidal industries in general as they develop to commercial viability.
In addition to providing an update on the current situation at EMEC, this paper also discusses some of the work being undertaken at the centre on data provision and interpretation, in particular regard to the tidal test site.
For its tidal test site, EMEC is currently developing Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) survey methodologies in order to address developers’ needs for an appropriate picture of the raw energy. The tidal flow is not homogeneous. It is therefore necessary to capture wave-induced velocities which can be particularly important during high sea states and turbulence, especially within the seabed boundary layer. Progress in this ongoing work is also presented.