Technology Development Projects

Developing marine renewable energy technologies

The Marine Energy Technology (MET) team is involved in a number of technology development projects across the country, in collaboration with Canadian innovators, entrepreneurs and research facilities. A key focus of the work we support is overcoming “cross-cutting" technical barriers that face the sector. Similar issues are affecting the various types of marine renewable energy technologies.

One area of particular focus is the use of large turbines that take maximum advantage of tidal energy. The ocean environment’s combination of waves and wind make it very risky to deploy expensive, large-scale turbines. We continue to support research in this area, and to study the kinds of moorings needed to ensure the safe installation and operation of tidal, wave and River Hydrokinetic energy converters.

The MET team studies the following other issues:

• Reliability, efficiency and optimization of power take-off systems
• Hydrodynamic performance of technologies
• Model rotor wake and inter-device spacing requirements
• Mooring and foundation designs (through evaluation, modelling and testing)
• Deployment and retrieval procedures, techniques and technologies
• Control systems for monitoring device performance

To find out more about marine energy research, visit our Knowledge Centre or contact us.