Partner Article

Funding boost to new wave of engineering

NORTH East engineers have been awarded £20,000 by design industry body Design Network North to develop a new rotary wave energy generator.

The money has been awarded to the National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) and will fund a research project by Newcastle University’s Resource Centre for Innovation and Design (RCID).

The research will investigate how a generator converts the bobbing movement of a buoy on the surface of the sea into useable energy and will build on the ‘Snapper’ technology invented by Professor Ed Spooner, formerly of Durham University.

The proposed device will use the rolling motion of the sea to drive the main shaft of the generator and has the potential to achieve a higher energy output than current devices. The system could also improve the capacity of wave energy generators to store energy and reduce subsequent losses during conversion to a suitable grid supply.

The UK’s target is to deliver 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Narec was established as a key research and testing facility in the UK for the most commercially viable technology. Paul McKeever is Research &Development Manager. He said:

“Wave energy is an abundant and constant resource around our coastline, yet the technology is at a much earlier stage of development than other renewable sources such as wind power.

“The rotary wave energy generator could provide a significant breakthrough in improving how we better extract energy from the sea.

“With the funding from Design Network North and the help of RCID, we can continue to make wave energy an important ingredient in the renewable energy mix.”

The generator is one of 30 innovative new devices and products in the North East being funded by Design Network North.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .