FLOTEC
FloTEC is a €10m project that aims to reduce the cost of floating tidal energy through the delivery of a number of promising innovations on an enchained variant of Scotrenewables SR2000 floating tidal turbine. ÉireComposites’ scope is to develop higher performance tidal turbine blades at an affordable cost.
Targeted Innovations:
Improved energy capture through increased rotor swept area (9m blades).
Advance lower cost manufacturing techniques in both turbine structure and blade.
Centralised power conversion with integrated energy storage.
Novel load dampers to reduce peak mooring loads
Objectives:
Determine an optimised composites structure and manufacturing method for SR2000-2 blades.
Design lighter more robust blades with higher fibre volume fraction and straighter fibres.
Reduce blade cost.
Develop a technique for high volume and high-quality production.
Perform extensive testing of materials and blade sub components to demonstrate the robustness of blades in ocean conditions.
