Marine Renewable Energy

Awards, facts and figures

Timing

2010 - 2014

Can I apply for a grant?

No, there will be no more funding events for this programme.

Budget

This programme has a budget of £2·4m.

Grants awarded

The following grants have been awarded as a result of the December 2010 sandpit event:

PI: Professor Ian Bryden, University of Edinburgh
Title: Optimising Array Form for Energy Extraction & Environmental Benefit (EBAO)
Summary: This project will establish and evaluate a design feedback process which can protect and perhaps enhance the natural environment, while allowing energy extraction to be maximised. Engineers will work with project and device developers to establish appropriate development scenarios which will then be considered using state of the art modelling techniques to assess the levels of ecological impact across a range of key ecological parameters.

PI: Dr David Thompson, University of St Andrew's
Title: Understanding How Marine Renewable Device Operations Influence Fine Scale Habitat Use & Behaviour of Marine Vertebrates (RESPONSE)
Summary: The RESPONSE project is a multi-disciplinary study focusing on causal links between marine renewable devices (MRD) and changes in the fine-scale distribution and behaviour of marine vertebrates. The overall aim of the project is to identify and quantify actual risk of negative consequences and therefore remove one key layer of uncertainty in the scale of risk to the industry and natural environment.

PI: Dr Paul Bell, National Oceanography Centre
Title: Flow, Water Column & Benthic Ecology 4D (FLOWBEC)
Summary: FLOWBEC aims at measuring flow, water column and benthic ecology in four dimensions, to assess the potential effects of Marine Renewable Energy Devices (MREDs) on the environment. It will use a wealth of observation techniques above and under water, ranging from radar to sonar and in situ measurements, to be deployed over two years at three key sites around the UK. These measurements will feed into models of ecological interactions and habitat preferences, allowing predictions of the multiple effects of large MRED arrays.

PI: Professor David Sims, Marine Biological Association
Title: Quantifying benefits and impacts of fishing exclusion zones around Marine Renewable Energy installations (QBEX)
Summary: The project will seek to quantify the extent to which 'spillover' of bioresource abundance, i.e. fish and invertebrate species, enhances adjacent areas as a consequence of fishing exclusions within and around marine renewable energy installations. Novel technologies will be used to determine the spatial movements of fish and shellfish across a wide-range of spatio-temporal scales (spanning metres to 100s of kilometres and minutes to years).