Fish Flow Innovations Tidal Turbine

Project Information

FFITT

Grant agreement ID: 775519

DOI

10.3030/775519

Project closed

EC signature date 24 May 2017

Start date 1 June 2017

End date 30 November 2017

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

FISHFLOW INNOVATIONS BV
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FFITT (Fish Flow Innovations Tidal Turbine)

Reporting period: 2017-06-01 to 2017-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Fish Flow Innovations (FFI) wants to commercialize a fish friendly tidal stream turbine that converts ocean currents into electricity. The turbine can be fixed mounted on a seabed, tethered/moored to a seabed and/or buoyant, or float on the water surface or in mid water. The turbine is designed and constructed to survive in the harsh conditions offshore, and able to efficiently produce electricity in water flows between 3 and 15 m/s without the need for pitch adjustable blades for bi-directional functionality. The turbine has an integrated gravity based support structure, avoiding the need for expensive underwater support structures. The turbine can be deployed in all planned tidal locations worldwide. The main objective of the innovation project is to demonstrate and reach market readiness (TRL 9). At the end of the project through certification and an output performance warranty, a commercially viable levelized Cost of Energy of 10 c€/kWh will have been demonstrated in real-sea conditions (provided in the Tidal Technology Center Grevelingendam in The Netherlands).

Economic / social problem European Policy has successfully taken the 1st generation of renewable energy technologies, such as solar and wind, to commercially competitive levels. The EU needs other technologies to complement its low-carbon generation capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80–95 % below 1990 levels by 2050 . This was highlighted in the EC Blue Growth Strategy as one of five developing areas in the ‘blue economy’. Ocean energy is abundant, geographically diverse and renewable. Under favourable regulatory and economic conditions, ocean energy will meet 10% of the EU’s power demand by 2050, avoiding the emission of 276m ton of CO2 annually . An advantage is that Ocean Energy production is highly predictable and hardly influenced by weather conditions.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

TASK 1: TECHNICAL: ASSESSMENT OF THE EXISTING AND REQUIRED NECESSARY TECHNOLOGY, EXPERTISE AND THE MATURITY OF THE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE DEMONSTRATIONS.
TASK 2: OPERATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE EXISTING AND REQUIRED ORGANISATIONAL CAPACITY AND COOPERATION MODALITIES WITH PARTNERS AND USE OF THEIR SUPPLY CHAIN.
TASK 3: FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENTS INCLUDING MARKET ANALYSIS, COMPETITOR ANALYSIS, COMMERCIAL ANALYSIS, AND ESTIMATION OF POTENTIALS IN TERMS OF TURNOVER, EMPLOYMENT, MARKET SIZE, IP MANAGEMENT, SALES, CASH FLOW REQUIREMENTS, RETURN ON INVESTMENT AND PROFIT, AND FINANCIAL STRUCTURE.
TASK 4: ASSESSMENT OF PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS ON PROJECT PLANNING AND WORK SCHEDULES, INCLUDING A RISK ASSESSMENT AND MITIGATING MEASURES THAT CAN BE TAKEN.
TASK 5: ASSESSMENT OF LEGAL CONSTRAINTS: POSSIBLE REGULATORY AND/OR STANDARD REQUIREMENTS THAT ARE TO BE FULFILLED, CONSTRAINTS THESE MAY IMPOSE ON THE PROJECT, AS WELL AS THE OPTIONS TO ADDRESS THESE REQUIREMENTS.
TASK 6: CONSOLIDATION OF THE ASSESSMENTS IN A FEASIBILITY REPORT WITH AN OPERATIONAL AND FEASIBLE BUSINESS PLAN.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The business opportunity for the consortium is to manufacture and export ecologically friendly tidal range turbines at competitive price levels to the European and global market. Structural dynamics is one of the key design challenges. The turbine is designed and constructed to survive in the harsh conditions offshore, and able to efficiently produce electricity in water flows between 3 and 15 m/s without the need for pitch adjustable blades for bi-directional functionality and has an integrated gravity based support structure. The turbine can be used in all planned tidal locations worldwide.

Current stage of development of the innovation
During the last 10 years Fish Flow Innovations has developed and successfully placed over 10 commercial products in the market. Based on their knowledge of water flows in relation to pumps and turbines Fish Flow Innovations has developed a 100% fish friendly rotor to be used in hydro power stations. In 2013 the patented rotor was licensed to Pentair (multinational) for usage in forced flow conditions (tidal ranges) and fully tested in the European funded INTERREG program Protide . In 2014 and 2015 3rd party field-tests were conducted on design , fish mortality , and performance . The rotor is considered as one of the best available techniques by Protide. From 2015 onwards Fish Flow Innovations developed the current double bladed rotor for bi-directional turbines to be used in tidal ranges. The current design is fully optimised and Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) were performed to calculate output and measure the structural dynamics.

Fish Flow Turbine