Trident Energy, the independent developer of generator solutions for the offshore renewable energy industry, today announced that it has signed a collaboration agreement with RenewNet, a world-leading electrical engineering research organisation.
Trident Energy has developed a low cost, high reliability linear generator for use in offshore wind, wave and tidal energy technologies. The generator can be attached to the bottom of offshore wind turbines to extract energy from waves, co-locating with the offshore wind infrastructure and reducing the cost of energy.
Through its collaboration with RenewNet, which was established to encourage knowledge transfer between universities and renewable energy businesses, Trident Energy is accessing the world-leading linear generator research undertaken at the Institute of Energy Systems at the University of Edinburgh. The collaboration will include the secondment of an academic staff member to Trident Energy and will ensure the latest academic research is incorporated into Trident Energy’s novel, low cost generator design. The collaboration project will model the performance and control system of the linear generator, in advance of sea trials which are expected to take place during 2012.
Jonathan Armstrong, Chief Operating Officer at Trident Energy said: “Trident Energy is delighted to be working closely with RenewNet and the research team at the University of Edinburgh. Partnerships such as this are vital in bringing the skills together to deliver affordable, clean energy from the UK’s abundant offshore resources.”
Dr. Markus Mueller, Director of RenewNet said: “This is exactly the type of partnership that RenewNet was set up for. There is a close match between the academic research and the industrial application. We are very pleased that through RenewNet the research excellence of the Institute of Energy Systems at the University of Edinburgh can be made available to Trident Energy to help bring their innovative technology to the commercial market.”
About RenewNet
RenewNet brings together the electrical engineering expertise of five leading Scottish universities. It has been established to encourage knowledge transfer between academia and SMEs in the renewable energy sector. It is funded by the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Funding Council, the European Regional Development Fund and the participating universities.