Periodic Reporting for period 4 - EnFAIT (Enabling Future Arrays in Tidal)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-01-01 bis 2023-06-30
The world is suffering from the double impact of a climate crisis and an energy security crisis. With the intensity and frequency of extreme climate events rising, Governments around the world are setting net zero goals and policies to decarbonise their economies to mitigate the risks posed by climate change.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has caused devastation in the region, intensified the energy security crisis in Europe and accelerated the need to diversify away from fossil fuels.
Day and night, the tide carries huge volumes of water across our seas and oceans. This tremendous source of clean energy has long been admired, but the ability to harness this immense power has been challenging – until now. Nova’s tidal turbines have been generating electricity from the tide since 2016. With the tidal turbines sitting underwater on the seabed, the beauty of the landscape is preserved. There are no dams, no barriers and the turbines work in harmony with marine wildlife.
Unlike wind and solar, the tide’s predictability days, months and years ahead, enables it to deliver many energy system benefits. Tidal energy can play a key role in helping us to combat climate change, achieve our net zero targets, improve our security of energy supply, and create a new industry delivering many economic benefits.
Marine energy could contribute billions to the European economy by 2050, offering strong business growth and job creation opportunities. The ability to generate electricity from our tides is now proven; the challenge faced by the sector is to lower the cost of tidal energy.
The EnFAIT project focused on accelerating the development of the tidal energy industry by building on the success of the world’s first offshore tidal array. Led by Nova Innovation, the project involved a consortium of world leading partners and quickly established itself as Europe’s flagship tidal energy project. The primary aim of the six-year project was to reduce the cost of tidal energy by at least 40%.
EnFAIT embarked on achieving this in two key ways. Firstly, by improving the technology and doubling the capacity of the array from three to six turbines. Secondly, by expanding our knowledge and understanding of this natural resource and how we can harness the mighty power of the tide to produce clean predictable energy.
Basing the project on an existing array minimised development risk and allowed the project to generate real-world results from day one. Key project objectives included:
• demonstrating a step change in the lifetime cost of energy for tidal power;
• capturing and disseminating substantial learning on fundamental issues for the ocean energy industry;
• taking a significant step towards creating a commercial, bankable tidal energy sector.
The EnFAIT project successfully delivered major step changes in the commerciality of tidal energy, performance of technology and strengthened Nova’s world leading credentials in the sector .
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has caused devastation in the region, intensified the energy security crisis in Europe and accelerated the need to diversify away from fossil fuels.
Day and night, the tide carries huge volumes of water across our seas and oceans. This tremendous source of clean energy has long been admired, but the ability to harness this immense power has been challenging – until now. Nova’s tidal turbines have been generating electricity from the tide since 2016. With the tidal turbines sitting underwater on the seabed, the beauty of the landscape is preserved. There are no dams, no barriers and the turbines work in harmony with marine wildlife.
Unlike wind and solar, the tide’s predictability days, months and years ahead, enables it to deliver many energy system benefits. Tidal energy can play a key role in helping us to combat climate change, achieve our net zero targets, improve our security of energy supply, and create a new industry delivering many economic benefits.
Marine energy could contribute billions to the European economy by 2050, offering strong business growth and job creation opportunities. The ability to generate electricity from our tides is now proven; the challenge faced by the sector is to lower the cost of tidal energy.
The EnFAIT project focused on accelerating the development of the tidal energy industry by building on the success of the world’s first offshore tidal array. Led by Nova Innovation, the project involved a consortium of world leading partners and quickly established itself as Europe’s flagship tidal energy project. The primary aim of the six-year project was to reduce the cost of tidal energy by at least 40%.
EnFAIT embarked on achieving this in two key ways. Firstly, by improving the technology and doubling the capacity of the array from three to six turbines. Secondly, by expanding our knowledge and understanding of this natural resource and how we can harness the mighty power of the tide to produce clean predictable energy.
Basing the project on an existing array minimised development risk and allowed the project to generate real-world results from day one. Key project objectives included:
• demonstrating a step change in the lifetime cost of energy for tidal power;
• capturing and disseminating substantial learning on fundamental issues for the ocean energy industry;
• taking a significant step towards creating a commercial, bankable tidal energy sector.
The EnFAIT project successfully delivered major step changes in the commerciality of tidal energy, performance of technology and strengthened Nova’s world leading credentials in the sector .
EnFAIT has been a very successful flagship project that has lowered the cost of tidal energy and advanced the industry. The €20m project has delivered industry-leading results and demonstrated the scalability of tidal energy.
Key outputs, benefits and learnings include:
• Tidal Energy Lifetime Cost of Energy (LCOE) Reduction – financial modelling indicates that the project has demonstrated a 40.7% reduction in the LCOE for tidal stream energy.
• Doubling the Size of the World’s First Offshore Tidal Array – the EnFAIT project doubled the size of the Shetland Tidal Array from three to six turbines, making it the array with the largest number of turbines in the world.
• Record-breaking Output of the Array – EnFAIT enabled the Shetland Tidal Array to set new records for generating hours, output and availability. Turbines T5 and T6 demonstrated 95% availability.
• 100% European Content – the EnFAIT turbines were delivered with 100% European content and 38% within the Scottish Highlands and Islands Region – delivering strong benefits to the local economy. It also increased the supply chain content from 4 EU countries at the beginning of the project to 20 EU countries by project completion.
• Proven and Improved Performance of Turbines – Nova has used the learnings from EnFAIT to deliver an enhanced direct drive turbine, the M100-D. It has shown a capacity factor of around 30% at Bluemull Sound and the potential for 50% at more energetic sites.
• Proven Subsea Cable Hub Reliability – the project delivered a pioneering subsea hub for turbines T5 and T6, which enables the two turbines to send power to shore by a single export cable. This innovation reduces the cost of tidal energy by reducing the amount of cabling required and eases consenting through reducing the number of cables coming to shore.
• Reduced Operation and Maintenance costs – Nova slashed maintenance costs by 50% by undertaking annual maintenance on three turbines at the same time, recovering and redeploying the turbines within three weeks.
• Extended Service Intervals – EnFAIT smashed its service interval target of 6 months. The longest period of operation of a turbine without requiring maintenance was 2 and a half years (and counting). The newer M100-D turbines are set to exceed this.
• Understanding Impacts of Array Layout on Turbine Performance – the project studied array layout impacts turbines performance in the array. This was successfully completed, with this industry enabling result improving the performance of future arrays.
• Environmental Datasets – the comprehensive monitoring programme enabled industry regulator, Marine Scotland, to independently ascertain that there have been no adverse environmental effects from the Shetland Tidal Array after 5 years of independent monitoring.
These results demonstrate the significant impact of the EnFAIT project. The project has delivered industry-leading results and demonstrated the scalability of tidal energy. The cost reductions and improvements in reliability and performance achieved are helping to demonstrate the bankability of this untapped and abundant source of predictable renewable energy.
Key outputs, benefits and learnings include:
• Tidal Energy Lifetime Cost of Energy (LCOE) Reduction – financial modelling indicates that the project has demonstrated a 40.7% reduction in the LCOE for tidal stream energy.
• Doubling the Size of the World’s First Offshore Tidal Array – the EnFAIT project doubled the size of the Shetland Tidal Array from three to six turbines, making it the array with the largest number of turbines in the world.
• Record-breaking Output of the Array – EnFAIT enabled the Shetland Tidal Array to set new records for generating hours, output and availability. Turbines T5 and T6 demonstrated 95% availability.
• 100% European Content – the EnFAIT turbines were delivered with 100% European content and 38% within the Scottish Highlands and Islands Region – delivering strong benefits to the local economy. It also increased the supply chain content from 4 EU countries at the beginning of the project to 20 EU countries by project completion.
• Proven and Improved Performance of Turbines – Nova has used the learnings from EnFAIT to deliver an enhanced direct drive turbine, the M100-D. It has shown a capacity factor of around 30% at Bluemull Sound and the potential for 50% at more energetic sites.
• Proven Subsea Cable Hub Reliability – the project delivered a pioneering subsea hub for turbines T5 and T6, which enables the two turbines to send power to shore by a single export cable. This innovation reduces the cost of tidal energy by reducing the amount of cabling required and eases consenting through reducing the number of cables coming to shore.
• Reduced Operation and Maintenance costs – Nova slashed maintenance costs by 50% by undertaking annual maintenance on three turbines at the same time, recovering and redeploying the turbines within three weeks.
• Extended Service Intervals – EnFAIT smashed its service interval target of 6 months. The longest period of operation of a turbine without requiring maintenance was 2 and a half years (and counting). The newer M100-D turbines are set to exceed this.
• Understanding Impacts of Array Layout on Turbine Performance – the project studied array layout impacts turbines performance in the array. This was successfully completed, with this industry enabling result improving the performance of future arrays.
• Environmental Datasets – the comprehensive monitoring programme enabled industry regulator, Marine Scotland, to independently ascertain that there have been no adverse environmental effects from the Shetland Tidal Array after 5 years of independent monitoring.
These results demonstrate the significant impact of the EnFAIT project. The project has delivered industry-leading results and demonstrated the scalability of tidal energy. The cost reductions and improvements in reliability and performance achieved are helping to demonstrate the bankability of this untapped and abundant source of predictable renewable energy.
The EnFAIT project successfully demonstrated high reliability from tidal stream turbines. The longest period of operation of a turbine without requiring maintenance was 2 and a half years (and counting). The newer M100-D turbines are well on track to exceed this.
The project delivered significant socio-economic impacts, demonstrating security of European energy and manufacturing, the boosting of local communities and the creation of green jobs - all of which drive the European blue economy forwards.
Financial modelling utilising the results has demonstrated that the EnFAIT project has reduced the cost of tidal energy by 40.7% – exceeding the overarching project objective.
This significant reduction in the Lifetime Cost of Energy (LCOE) demonstrates the positive impact EnFAIT has had on advancing the industry, moving the European tidal stream sector towards sustainable and commercial multi-turbine arrays.
The project delivered significant socio-economic impacts, demonstrating security of European energy and manufacturing, the boosting of local communities and the creation of green jobs - all of which drive the European blue economy forwards.
Financial modelling utilising the results has demonstrated that the EnFAIT project has reduced the cost of tidal energy by 40.7% – exceeding the overarching project objective.
This significant reduction in the Lifetime Cost of Energy (LCOE) demonstrates the positive impact EnFAIT has had on advancing the industry, moving the European tidal stream sector towards sustainable and commercial multi-turbine arrays.