Next month, a 7-member delegation of UK experts in wave and tidal energy will be touring India from October 28-31 to explore potential research partnerships. The delegation, representing universities of the UK Centre for Marine Energy Research (UKCMER) consortium and the Scottish Association for Marine Science, will be visiting Chennai, and other cities for meetings and site visits.
The UKCMER is a consortium of universities, whose mission is to conduct cutting edge research in marine renewable energy. Several projects are currently underway. SuperGen Marine Technology Challenge (SMARTY) is focused on investigating the survivability of renewable energy devices operating in complex marine environments. The Optimal design of large tidal farms project is exploring the most efficient tidal farm layouts for shallow water sites with high tidal energy potential.
In India, there has been a fair amount of interest in exploring the magnitude of wave and tidal energy offered by the vast shorelines on the west and east coasts. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has espoused a tidal energy programme to evaluate the potential in the country and exploit it for power generation. The Department of Ocean Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras conducts wide ranging research on marine energy, and houses relevant facilities for simulating marine conditions and testing devices. The National Institute of Ocean Technology, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, possesses several capabilities to exploit ocean based resources including energy.
Given the expertise and interest in both countries, it is only natural that we explore research partnerships! To that end, I’ll be working with my colleagues in Chennai to organise a one-day UK-India workshop on wave and tidal energy. Broadly, the objective will be to identify areas where potential UK-India collaborations could be initiated. If you’d like to contribute to this discussion, please drop me line. I’ll send you the agenda, once firmed up. See you in Chennai!
What: UK-India workshop on wave and tidal energy
When: Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Where: Chennai, Tamil Nadu