EU Horizon 2020-launched ‘Enabling Future Arrays in Tidal’ (EnFAIT) project carries out a demonstration of a grid-connected tidal energy array with the aim to provide a step change in the lifetime cost of energy for tidal power.
The project involves a consortium of nine leading industrial, academic and research organisations, and is led by the Scotish tidal energy firm Nova Innovation.
The project will build on Nova’s existing operational tidal power station in Bluemull Sound off the Shetland Islands in Scotland, which was one of the world’s first grid-connected offshore array of tidal energy turbines.
It will extend the Bluemull Sound array to six turbines and seek to demonstrate that high array reliability and availability can be achieved using best practice maintenance regimes.
The layout of the turbines will be adjusted to enable array interactions and optimisation to be studied for the very first time at an operational tidal energy site.
Total project costs are expected to be €20.2 million, to which the EU Horizon 2020 Program will be contributing €14.9 million.
The EnFAIT project will run until June 2022.
In addition to Nova Innovation, other partners in the project include ELSA, ORE Catapult, Wood Group, and Mojo Maritime.