Tidal Energy Today has compiled the top news from tidal and wave energy industry from March 14 – 20, 2016.
UK releases Budget 2016; £15 mln goes to Wave Hub
UK Chancellor George Osborne yesterday announced the Budget 2016, setting aside up to £730 million (approx. €929 million) to support offshore wind and other less established renewable technologies, and providing around £15 million to develop WaveHub as part of a new MarineHub Enterprise Zone. Furthermore, the government is transferring ownership of the Wave Hub testing facility to Cornwall Council.
New joint venture to develop tidal projects in Ireland, UK
US based Verdant Power, Inc. and Irish company Belleville Duggan Renewables Ltd. have established a joint venture, Verdant Isles, to develop tidal energy projects in Ireland and the United Kingdom. In parallel to this, Verdant Isles plans to set up a manufacturing base in the region that will become part of a global supply chain for marine energy devices.
Tidal energy part of Lockheed Martin’s new business unit
Lockheed Martin has combined its energy products and technologies, including those for tidal energy, into a single business line to be known as Lockheed Martin Energy. Lockheed Martin Energy will also apply advanced cyber-security architectures throughout its energy offerings. The integration of the energy business began in the summer of 2015, and over the last several months, all employees and programs were transitioned into the new line of business.
WES starts dismantling Pelamis P2 001
As the planned test programme was completed over 2 years ago, Wave Energy Scotland (WES) has commenced the dismantling of its Pelamis P2 prototype wave energy converter.The Pelamis P2 001 was acquired by WES in 2014, and during its 2-year testing period, the device provided 15,000 hours’ worth of data, which the organisation is now evaluating.
Wave energy array testing begins down under
A number of wave energy devices will be grouped together in an array for a series of experiments under various wave conditions in the model test basin facility at the Australian Maritime College (AMC) to observe testing of the performance and impact of wave energy farms at model scale. The project is a collaboration between AMC and Swinburne University of Technology with industry partners BioPower Systems and Carnegie Wave Energy, with funding support from ARENA.
Tidal Energy Today