The MORE team of the Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA) from the University of Algarve has installed a scaled Evopod tidal energy unit off Portugal.
The Evopod E1 tidal energy device, leased from the UK-based Oceanflow Energy, was installed at Ria Formosa, a coastal lagoon located in the south of Portugal, on Thursday, June 8, 2017.
The 1:10 scale device will remain in place for the next three months as part of the SCORE project, according to CIMA-MORE team.
Through this deployment, the researchers plan to validate the numerical modelling tool that will be used to analyze different extraction schemes and predict short to long term impacts of energy extraction on shallow environments.
The general objective of SCORE project is to examine the deployment of a small-scale tidal current turbine in a shallow-water estuarine environment.
The project will look at both the impacts of the turbine on its environment and the effects of the flow conditions on the turbine.