Development of Very Low Head Tidal Turbine

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Our SMART grant partnership combines Severn Estuary Tidal Bar (SETB) Ltd (who are promoting the economic case for tidal range projects in the Severn Estuary), Jacobs (who have researched and acquired a concept Very Low Head Turbine (VLHT) and developed a Design Philosophy for commercial scale development), the UK Tidal Range Alliance (who coordinate developers in the UK's tidal range power market), and leading academics from Cardiff, Lancaster and Liverpool John Moores Universities (who will provide subject matter expertise and assurance via a specialist steering group for this industrial research).Our industrial research project will produce critical evidence needed to rapidly commercialise SETB and Jacobs' First of a Kind (FOAK) VLHT, currently at Technology Readiness Level 3 (TRL3), for tidal range power projects. The VLHT will capture energy in both rising and falling tides.Our VLHT is being developed to address many of the challenges facing multiple UK tidal range schemes, including relatively high costs, sub-optimal turbine performance for bi-directional generation, and adverse environmental impacts. Our innovative VLHT will create the biggest disruption to tidal turbines for sixty years, with the VLHT offering an economic and environmentally sensitive means to harness the predictable, renewable power of our daily tides, reinvigorating this hitherto impeded industry.SMART grant funding will be targeted at finalising the design and manufacture of a 0.5 metre diameter physical scale model of the turbine and setting up a unique test rig. This will validate our theoretical modelling for a full scale turbine, enabling us to complete our investment case and unlock the further funding and investment required to move through subsequent TRLs, and into commercialisationVLHT technology offers an economic route to energy security by virtue of its potential to attract insurance market investment in dual use tidal power generation and defence against Sea Level Rise.