Equimar

EquiMar ...working to harness marine energy

This project involves about 60 scientists, developers, engineers and conservationists from across 11 European countries who are working together to find way to measure and compare tidal and wave energy devices (above and below the water surface) so governments can invest in the best ones and get marine energy on tap fast.

The aim of EquiMar is to deliver a suite of protocols for the equitable evaluation of marine energy converters (based on either tidal or wave energy). These protocols will harmonise testing and evaluation procedures across the wide variety of devices presently available with the aim of accelerating adoption though technology matching and improved understanding of the environmental and economic impacts associated with the deployment of arrays of devices. EquiMar will assess devices through a suite of protocols covering site selection, device engineering design, the scaling up of designs, the deployment of arrays of devices, the environmental impact, in terms of both biological & coastal processes, and economic issues. A series of protocols will be developed through a robust, auditable process and disseminated to the wider community. Results from the EquiMar project will establish a sound base for future marine energy standards.

This project has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement n° FP721338

Servicing a tidal stream device

For many people, the idea of servicing and maintaining a tidal stream device is a gap in their knowledge. Yet, in many ways, it is an important topic which will need to be addressed before all forms of marine energy go 'mainstream'. In this short video, two EquiMar partners explain some of the challenges.

Brian Holmes HMRC...an apology

Since the original interview with Brian Holmes of HMRC was posted, there seems to have been a problem with the video; resulting in sound but no picture. This has now been fixed and you can SEE and hear Brian talking about the EquiMar protocols and their relevance to developers. 

Deliverables are now available here

Part of the EquiMar project's mission is to communicate the protocols developed by the partners. To help achieve this communication, the EquiMar project deliverables are now available via this website. You can access these written material by clicking on 'EquiMar project deliverables' either at the top of this page or in the sidebar.

Dates for your diary - October 2009

After their successful presentation at EWTEC in Uppsala in September, representatives of Wave Energy Centre will  be on stage again at the InWaterTec conference , that is going to be held in Kiel, Germany in the beginning of October (6th to 8th).
Water Energy Centre, who are Equimar partners, will be presenting a paper; “Review and discussion of common environmental legislation for ocean energy schemes”. This paper is based on the results and first deliverable of Work Package 6 (D6.1.1) entitled   “Existing legislation, perspectives and evolution of other similar activities".

Are seals safe with tidal turbines ?

This feature article which is downloadable here appeared in Engineering and Technology magazine -- the most widely read and respected magazine in its field. E&T has established an enviable reputation for the global breadth and quality of its content, published bi-weekly 21 times a year and read by over 150,000 professional engineers and technologists worldwide; working and operating in all disciplines of engineering including communications, control and automation, electronics, IT, management, manufacturing and power.

The aim was to spell out the difficulties of putting a tidal turbine in the water and measuring its impact on marine mammals. The public often wonders why tidal and wave energy isn’t advancing faster – resolving environmental concerns about seals, dolphins, sea birds and fish is clearly going to take time.

Progress for EquiMar Partners

Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy visited the Pelamis Wave Power headquarters in Leith (July 16th) to announce an £8 million boost from the UK government for marine energy. The funding will help expand the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, where Pelamis achieved a world first by generating electricity for the national grid. (Pelamis and EMEC are both partners in the Equimar project)

Pelamis is now working on the next generation of its unique wave-power generators for Orkney next year. Mr Murphy said work at Pelamis, on the Forth estuary, will inspire advances in renewable technology. Meanwhile the Scotsman newspaper suggested the lion’s share of the marine development cash should have come to Scotland not Cornwall. See here......

Upcoming events

WavEC will present a paper on “Discussion of common environmental legislation baselines for ocean energy schemes” based on the results for WP6 first deliverable (D6.1.1 “Existing legislation, perspectives and evolution of other similar activities”)

This will take place on 7th to 10th September 2009 at the EWTEC Conference in Uppsala Sweden.

Information about protocols on YouTube

Equimar partners talk about the importance of protocols. An increasing number of video clips are and will be available to explain details of the Equimar project at the Equimar channel on YouTube.

Striking images and tables from the Institute of Marine Sciences

The Bilbao Podcasts

As a part of the public information and education aspect of the Equimar project, a number of the partners discussed topical issues at the Bilbao meeting. Here, Andre Moura of WavEC and Jean-Francois Dhedin talk to Lesley Riddoch of Feisty about the current challenges facing marine energy today. Naturally enough, the issues are both environmental and economic concerns as the Equimar project works towards establishing its protocols.

Andre Croft of the Wave Energy Centre Portugal talks about how to measure impact of turbines on sea mammals. And he also talks about the survey about public knowledge of the coastal area where turbines are off the coast in Portugal.

Jean–Francois Dhedin EDF France says 75 energy devices are on display in the US. Question is which ones really work? How do investors like EDF decide? And he discusses developers fear of revealing problems.