A tidal turbine blade has been manufactured in Scotland for the first time.
The design engineers, from the University of Edinburgh, say the new structure reduces the amount of materials necessary – bringing down the weight, volume and the cost of manufacturing the blade.
The team is based at FastBlade, a testing facility for tidal turbine blades at Rosyth in Fife, Scotland.
The blade was manufactured with Tocardo Turbines for tidal energy technology company QED Naval as part of the European Tidal Stream Industry Energiser Project known as TIGER, in a service agreement brokered by Edinburgh Innovations, the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service.
Jeremy Smith, Managing Director of QED Naval, said: “We are delighted to be working with the University of Edinburgh on this next generation of tidal turbine blades, which will help bring down the cost of tidal installations.
“We have deliberately demonstrated the design tools, processes and build method on our smaller T1 blade design, using a 6.3m rotor diameter, but we will be pulling these through into our T3 blades up to 14m rotor diameter.
“This work, and its part in the EU Interreg TIGER Project helps showcase cost savings and the benefits of tidal energy.”
The four completed blades have been deployed in QED’s Subhub tidal platform, undergoing sea trials in Langstone Harbour on the south coast of England, and the University of Edinburgh team is looking for funding to carry out detailed testing of a fifth blade at FastBlade.
FastBlade is part of the Arrol Gibb Innovation Campus in Fife, for large-scale advanced engineering and manufacturing and skills development focused on the marine and energy sectors.