At the offset of the project a number of activities were completed to set the project on a successful trajectory. Detailed commercial assessments and consultations were carried out to identify an optimum route to market strategy for our D2T2 turbine – the M100-D. These were factored into the design activities completed by Nova’s specialist engineers which developed a commercially optimum solution, suited to all identified markets. The design underwent independent verification, carried out by Wood, which confirmed the 100 kW design was well suited for operation in the target markets.
The project then moved into the manufacturing phase, where Nova expanded its existing European supply chain to incorporate available manufacturing opportunities through the wider European market. Expansion of this supply chain captured learnings from other established industries (e.g. automotive, oil & gas, etc) and helped the project achieve its objectives and deliver pan-European benefits – demonstrating that although Europe’s tidal resource is predominately across the Atlantic shore, the sector is served from across Europe.
The first M100-D was built at Nova’s Manufacturing Facility in Edinburgh. It then successfully underwent rigorous onshore and offshore testing in order to de-risk the novel technology and provide confidence in its performance. It was initially tested onshore at ORE Catapult’s national test centre in Blyth. This provided valuable data and validation about the lifetime performance of the new turbine, helping to de-risk operations before deployment. The M100-D was then tested in the sea to gain real-world operating experience. This provided operational data and validation, demonstrating the performance of the turbine to make it bankable. Results of both testing activities were verified by Wood who confirmed that the novel technology had been significantly de-risked, providing confidence for its use within Nova’s tidal arrays.
Throughout the project, the team were focussed on reducing the costs of tidal energy. The project successfully achieved its target of cutting the cost of tidal energy by 30% – thanks to clever simplicity. Fewer moving parts in the turbine improve its reliability and extend the period between service intervals from one year to more than two years. This increased reliability will also enable the turbine to achieve a device design lifetime of 20 years. The novel direct drive technology, which replaces the gearbox, also increases turbine efficiency, making its performance far superior to conventional turbines.
The results of the project have been disseminated on a global scale, from G7 governmental meetings with the world’s leading Energy Ministers to the EU Sustainable Energy Week. These dissemination activities communicated the fact that tidal energy costs are falling fast and are well on track to meet the targets outlined within the EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan.
The success of reducing tidal energy costs by 30% and the commercial focus of the D2T2 project enabled Nova to secure its first export project for 15 turbines in Canada. These M100-Ds will be deployed at the Nova Tidal Array located at Petit Passage, Nova Scotia.
Overall, the D2T2 project has been hugely successful and has achieved all of its objectives. It developed the M100-D – the tidal turbine of tomorrow which has accelerated commercialisation of the tidal energy industry and is ready for deployment across the world.
