Scotland's Nova Innovation wins major EU tidal energy project

Scotland-based tidal energy developer Nova Innovation has won a major new European tidal energy project, heading a consortium of nine leading industrial, academic and research organisations from across Europe.

The Enabling Future Arrays in Tidal (EnFAIT) project builds on Nova’s existing operational tidal power station in Bluemull Sound off the Shetland Islands in Scotland, which was the world’s first grid-connected offshore array of tidal energy turbines.

The project, which begins in July 2017 and will run until June 2022, has been won as a competitive contract awarded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme to develop marine energy sources and demonstrate technologies in European waters. The project is a flagship initiative for the EU and marine energy, and aims to increase the commercial viability of tidal power.

It will extend the Bluemull Sound array to six turbines and demonstrate that high array reliability and availability can be achieved using best practice maintenance regimes. The layout of the turbines will be adjusted to enable array interactions and optimisation to be studied for the very first time at an operational tidal energy site.

Total project costs are expected to be €20.2 million (US$23.1 million), to which the EU Horizon 2020 Programme will be contributing €14.9 million (US$17.0 million).

The consortium of nine partner companies includes the following organizations:

• Nova Innovation (UK) - world-leading tidal technology specialist.
• ELSA (Belgium) - renewable energy project developer.
• The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult (UK) – UK's flagship technology innovation and research centre for advancing wind, wave and tidal energy.
• HMK Technical Services Ltd (UK) - the largest Integrated Drive Systems provider in the UK.
• SKF GmbH (Germany) – expert in the simulation and delivery of bearing and sealing solutions, with extensive experience with tidal energy companies in developing a range of solutions for tidal stream turbines.
• The University of Edinburgh (UK) - world leaders in marine renewable energy systems, electrical power conversion, grid integration, and the inter-disciplinary assessment and socio-economic modelling of energy systems.
• Wood Group (France) - world leader in offshore technologies and renewables having assessed over 160 GW of renewable energy developments internationally. Decades of experience in assessing and verifying renewable technologies.
• Mojo Maritime Ltd (UK) - specialist in project management, engineering and consultancy services for the marine renewables industry.
• RSK Environment (France) - leading multidisciplinary environmental consultancy.