Wave Hub baseline study
Engineering Computer Science and Maths
University of Exeter
This proposal addresses important gaps in the research landscape, which unless tackled will impact increasingly on research outcomes, technical capability and tools development to support the renewable energy sector in general and the wave energy sector in particular.
There are critical questions whi ch must be addressed as development of renewable energy resources from the marine system progresses:
- Can ecosystems continue to deliver essential life supporting services when wave energy is extracted from the marine system?
- What is the magnitude and extent of the consequences / impacts of wave energy extraction on ecosystem services?
- Is there a balance to best ruck between exploitation of wave energy on the one hand and maintenance of ecosystem services on the other?
In order to address these questions our approach will focus initially on a combination of detailed observational / field studies at a device testing / demonstrator site for wave energy arrays; ultimately though, data to be collected will provide the basis of:
- assessing the physical and biological impact of wave energy e xtraction on ecosystem services,
- developing a generic physical and ecosystem model for testing a range of wave energy converter devices / arrays at different potential energy production sites,
- valuing the wave resource together with essential ecosystem services where economic as well as environmental indi cators will be required to inform decision making
We will deploy multidisciplinary field teams in time to obtain high quality, spatially resolved field data ahead of the Wave Hub construction. For this, we have therefore suggested a modest budget to ensure that this information is collected from August 2010 to August 2011.
Our approach will betoobtain:
- Detailed oceanographic study at the Wave Hub site and surrounds - covering the whole range of physical, chemical and biological parameters before the deployment of Wave Hub infrastructure and wave energy devices.
- Ensure data acquisition in time and space to allow development of physical and ecosystem models at scales relevant to wave arrays. Ultimately models will allow us to make predictive assessments of the extent, timescales and intensity of ecosystem impacts and perturbation resulting from implementation of wave energy arrays.
- Engagement of environmental economists to ensure these same data can be used to develop economic valuation estimates of critical life supporting ecosystem services at scales appropriate to arraysofwave devices for comparison with other uses of marine space.
This proposal is also driven by the need to expand the science capability and resources over the next five years to address the questions which have arisen directly in respect of marine renewable energy development and sustainable use of marine resources. Hence, many of the activities are also viewed as capacity buildingand skilldevelopment within PML-PRIMaRE that are pivotal to address the scientific requirements of the renewable energy sector.
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