Support was provided in two main areas via grant funding, or the commissioning of research on behalf of device developers, these areas were:
Operations strategies
Reducing the costs of offshore operations strategies, including engineering analysis and R&D.
Associated technologies
Developing associated technologies to reduce the cost of offshore operations strategies.
The strand C projects have typically been awarded between £100 - 250k. All projects produced a ’business case’ for future investment to move from prototype-testing to commercial development of a wave or tidal farm. Issues which have been investigated include:
- Weather window maintenance
- Foundation design (for high tidal stream environments)
- Installation methods (for both wave and tidal)
The following case studies highlight the key achievements of two of the developers in this strand: