Testing and Deployment Sites
Cornwall’s Wave Hub
Wave Hub is the largest and most advanced grid-connected site for testing and developing wave energy devices and related components, but also with the capacity to host floating offshore wind technologies. Located 16km offshore from Hayle in the eastern extremes of the Atlantic Ocean.
The site offers:
- Four cable connection points for testing offshore renewable energy technologies, specifically floating offshore wind and wave.
- Purpose built, pre-installed, grid connected infrastructure.
- Water depths ranging from 51-57m and one of the best offshore wind and wave climates in Europe.
- Access to world-leading R&D institutions and companies specialising in offshore renewables, and offshore renewables funding support.
The University of Exeter
The university offers The South West Moorings Test Facility, in Cornwall, enables a thorough understanding of mooring in real wave, wind, current and tidal conditions, improving computer simulation models and robust design procedures, which allow the design of reliable, yet economic mooring systems.
FaBTest
Also based in Cornwall, FaBTest is an award-winning, pre-consented, 2.8km² test area situated within Falmouth harbour, between three and five kilometres offshore in Falmouth Bay. This nursery facility enables device developers to test components, concepts or full scale devices in a moderate wave climate, whilst giving excellent accessibility to the device and benefiting from extensive nearby port infrastructure at A&P Dockyard.
Research Capacity
Exeter University
A core consortium member of the UK Centre for Marine Energy Research, the UK’s leading network for academic research collaboration, addressing the challenges facing the marine energy community. Based at the University’s Cornwall campus, the group boasts world-leading research facilities, including a state of the art power lab with numerical and realtime simulation capabilities. The Dynamic Marine Component test facility tests full-scale components and replicates the forces and motions that components are subjected to in marine applications.
The University of Plymouth
The lead organisation on Supergen, a consortium bringing together the UK’s expertise in Offshore Renewables. The COAST research group has particular strengths in physical and numerical modelling of marine renewable energy devices, supported by the state-of-the-art COAST Lab facilities. The University is also a key partner in the Partnership for Research in Marine Renewable Energy, a network of world-class research institutions, which undertake research and development to address challenges facing the marine renewable energy industry at regional, national and international levels.