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We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. Main image: L-R Lead academic Professor Conchúr Ó Brádaigh Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, HRH the Princess Royal Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Peter Mathieson.We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice. MAXBlade is led by TechnipFMC and includes Orbital Marine Power, Marasoft, TECNALIA, University of Edinburgh, EMEC, Laborelec and European Composites Industry Association. EI is proud to have supported our academics and helped build and develop this partnership project, which can now help the world meet its sustainable energy challenge. ”ĭr George Baxter, CEO of Edinburgh Innovations (EI), said: As the first large-scale project for FastBlade, MAXBlade is fantastic example of the capability generated when we combine cutting-edge university research with industry. We will also lead the development of thermoplastic resins in MAXBlade and the circular economy roadmap needed for future tidal blade manufacturing and recycling. This will help the tidal energy industry to de-risk their ongoing turbine developments and provide low-cost, reliable renewable energy to the grid. Professor Conchúr Ó Brádaigh, Head of School and Chair of Materials Engineering at Edinburgh University, said: The University of Edinburgh is delighted to be a partner in the MAXBlade project, where we will demonstrate the unique rapid testing capability of the FastBlade facility. Seventy per cent of the earth’s surface is ocean and sea and. But a new project in Scotland is set to change that, says Conchúr Ó Brádaigh, Professor of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. MAXBlade will help deliver tidal energy into a future, low-carbon energy mix at lower costs while, at the same time, position UK & European businesses to benefit from long-term industrial opportunities that will come from this new, sustainable industry. Until now, tidal energy generation has been costly and difficult to engineer. This will pave the way to the tidal energy sector making significant contributions towards Europe’s energy systems, energy security and industrial development by 2030 and beyond to 2050, the team says.Īndrew Scott, Chief Executive Officer at Orbital Marine Power, said: Orbital is delighted to be involved with so many great partners on this truly cutting-edge project. Innovations from MAXBlade will be integrated with findings from its sister project, FORWARD2030, to enable large-scale production of Orbital’s O2 turbine technology. The team aims to generate 120,000 hours of performance data that will be assessed by EMEC and project partner TECNALIA, a research and technological development centre. Two of Orbital Marine Power’s O2 floating platforms – the world’s most powerful tidal turbines – will each be fitted with four of the newly developed blades. The technology will then undergo two years of real-world testing at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.

During the build, the blades will undergo advanced structural testing at the FastBlade facility, a partnership between the University of Edinburgh and advanced manufacturer Babcock, based at the Arrol Gibb Innovation Campus at Babcock’s Rosyth facilities in Fife. The project, supported by the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service, Edinburgh Innovations, will involve a two-year design and development phase, followed by an 18-month build.

Modelling by the University of Edinburgh’s Institute of Energy Systems estimates £40bn could be generated for the UK economy by harnessing wave and tidal energy.

The team says that boosting blade length will have the single greatest impact on reducing the cost of tidal energy. MAXBlade will increase the length of the turbine blades from 10 to 13 metres – making them the longest of their kind in the world. Image: HRH Princess Anne at FastBlade, with Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Peter Mathieson.

Tidal blade