Bangor University leading the world of marine renewable energy research

Dr Simon Neill of the School of Ocean Sciences was primary chair of a series of marine renewable energy sessions at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Ocean Sciences Meeting in New Orleans last week – the world’s largest ocean science event.

The sessions, in collaboration with the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US Department of Energy) were a complete success, attracting 48 presentations from researchers across the world, including Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, and Japan.

The presentations ranged from wave and tidal resource studies using models, observations and data assimilation, studies of offshore wind and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), detailed site investigations, turbulence, and studies of environmental impacts, including the influence of electromagnetic fields (EMF) on marine species, and the co-existence of marine renewable energy infrastructure with fisheries.

Bangor University staff contributed 5 presentations to the sessions, including wave-current interaction, feedbacks between electricity generation and the marine renewable energy resource, new data collected from the Crown Estate west Anglesey tidal energy demonstration zone, and the global potential for tidal energy. Selected presentations from the marine renewable energy sessions will be published in a special issue of the Elsevier journal Renewable Energy, edited by Simon Neill.

Publication date: 1 March 2016