In this project we will design, build and test an innovative Direct Drive Power Take-Off (PTO) solution for tidal turbines. The consortium’s aim in this project is to reduce the lifetime cost of tidal power by 20%, demonstrated by accelerated life testing of a next-generation tidal turbine power take-off (PTO) solution. Project outputs will be independently verified, and will enable: 1. Improved performance: 20% Lifetime Cost of Energy improvement over a conventional PTO 2. Improved reliability: extending service intervals from less than 1 year to over 2 years 3. Verified survivability: PTO design lifetime greater than 20 years The results will be disseminated and exploited to maximise the benefit of this project to the ocean energy sector, and to raise investor and market confidence in the emerging tidal energy industry. In order to verify the technology, we will conduct accelerated onshore and in-sea testing of a prototype PTO and achieve third party validation of the design and the test results. In parallel we will develop a commercialisation strategy for selling and licensing the product to tidal energy technology developers, and explore potential uses outside the tidal sector, such as wave power and marine propulsion. The project is led by Nova Innovation, a world-leading tidal energy technology and project developer. Project partners are: SKF, Siemens, The University of Edinburgh, Delft Technical University, Wood Group and the Center for Wind Power Drives RWTH Aachen University. This proposal is being submitted to the call LCE-07-2016-2017: Developing the next generation technologies of renewable electricity and heating/cooling, and is perfectly aligned with the scope of the call: to increase the performance and reliability of ocean energy subsystems.

There is 10 GW of predictable, high value tidal stream potential in European waters, with up to 100 GW of capacity globally. It is an entirely unharnessed resource, with just 13 MW currently deployed . FORWARD-2030 has an overall objective to fast track 2030MW of tidal energy deployment by 2030. The project has five specific objectives: 1. Reducing Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) from ?200/MWh to ?150/MWh, 2. Enhancing environmental and societal acceptance, 3. Complete industrial design for volume manufacture rollout for 10 and 100+ MW projects, 4. Reducing life cycle carbon emissions by 33% from 18 gCO2 eq/kWh to 12 gCO2 eq/kWh, 5. Enhancing commercial returns and energy system integration (with battery storage and green hydrogen production). Objective 1 is focused on fast-tracking innovation to support the development of a technically and commercially viable tidal energy solution by rapidly reducing LCOE. This will be achieved by developing and verifying seven high priority cost reduction innovations to reduce CAPEX, reduce OPEX, increase efficiency and increase availability. Objectives 2, 3, 4 and 5 are focused on the regulatory and commercial barriers that must be overcome to achieve the project vison of installing 2030MW of tidal energy by 2030. It will be achieved by developing three market uptake innovations: an integrated environmental monitoring system, an energy management system, and an operational forecasting tool. Four market rollout initiatives will be completed: a supply chain plan for large scale roll out, Societal Cost of Energy (SCOE) assessment tool, marine spatial planning to encompass floating tidal and a life cycle carbon reduction assessment.

In the SEASTAR project, coordinator Nova Innovation (Nova) leads a world-class team to deliver a 4MW array of 16 tidal stream turbines at the EMEC Fall of Warness tidal site in Orkney - the world’s first large tidal farm, which will contain more tidal turbines than are currently deployed worldwide. SEASTAR will utilise Nova's well-proven M100D turbine, developed in partnership with project partner SKF - the world’s leading supplier of rotating equipment. The project builds on the success of Nova's six-turbine Shetland Tidal Array - the world's first offshore tidal array - which was delivered under the H2020 EnFAIT project by a team including SEASTAR partners SKF and Wood. They are joined in SEASTAR by DLA Piper, the leading global law firm in renewable energy, and by specialists in sustainability, insurance, consenting, communication, engineering and offshore operations. SEASTAR will demonstrate for the first time the industrial systems, manufacturing and operational techniques required to efficiently deliver a large tidal farm. It will generate and share transferable knowledge on key consenting risks, de-risking future large arrays globally. And it will improve the bankability of tidal energy by cutting costs, proving performance, and enhancing the insurability of large tidal farms. SEASTAR represents a step change for tidal energy. Volume industrial manufacturing, operation and maintenance techniques will be applied for the first time to the full lifecycle of a tidal farm, from design, procurement, production, shipping, marshalling, deployment, commissioning, operation and decommissioning. The 16-turbine farm provides unique opportunities to address critical environmental evidence gaps and develop the cost-effective, reliable monitoring solutions at scale required to accelerate permitting and remove barriers for future large tidal farms.

The FloTEC project will demonstrate the potential for floating tidal stream turbines to provide low-cost, high-value energy to the European grid mix. The FloTEC project has 5 core objectives: 1. Demonstrate a full-scale prototype floating tidal energy generation system for optimised energy extraction in locally varying tidal resources; 2. Reduce the Levelised Cost of Energy of floating tidal energy from current estimated €250/MWh to €200/MWh, through both CAPEX and OPEX cost reductions in Scotrenewables Tidal Technology; 3. Develop potential of tidal energy generation towards flexible, baseload generation, through the integration of energy storage. 4. Demonstrate the potential for centralised MV power conversion to provide a generic, optimised low-cost solution for tidal arrays 5. Progress tidal energy towards maturity and standard project financing by reducing cost and risk, improving reliability, and developing an advanced financing plan for first arrays. This will be realised through the construction of a M2-SR2000 2MW turbine - which will incorporate the following innovations: 50% greater energy capture through enlarged rotors with a lower rated speed; Automated steel fabrication; Centralised MV power conversion Integrated Energy Storage Mooring load dampers Composite Blade Manufacturing The SR2000-M2 will be deployed alongside the existing SR2000-M1 at EMEC to form a 4MW floating tidal array, serving as a demonstration platform for commercially viable tidal stream energy as a baseload supply.