A consortium, led by Nova Innovation in collaboration with 11 other organizations including Wood, has won a major new European project that will use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve tidal turbine performance and accelerate the commercialization of tidal energy.
The €5 M ELEMENT project will incorporate state-of-the-art AI technology from wind energy into tidal turbines to deliver an adaptive control system that improves turbine performance; slashing the lifetime cost of energy by 17% and driving the tidal energy sector to commercial reality.
The control technology will be demonstrated on a floating tidal device in the Étel estuary in Brittany in France and on a seabed-mounted Nova M100 turbine in the Shetland Tidal Array in Scotland.
The project starts in June 2019 and runs until May 2022. It was won as a competitive contract awarded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The 100% funded project will help to maintain Europe’s global leadership in marine energy while driving down the cost of this emerging technology sector.
