The Bryden Centre

The Bryden Centre was a €9.4 million cross-border, renewable energy research centre funded by the EU under the Interreg VA programme. Led from Queen’s University Belfast, the Bryden Centre covered the Northern Ireland, Western Scotland and the Irish border regions. Bryden Centre research was aimed at harnessing the potential for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland to become leaders in marine renewable energy.

PREDICT

PREDICT addressed knowledge gaps in offshore wind environmental characterisation, by improving the understanding of fish migration patterns and providing a vision for next-generation monitoring techniques.

Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) Phase 1

UHI was a key partner in the SATE project, based in Kirkwall, Orkney. UHI directly inputed into the testing of hydrogen and other low carbon fuels. The Aeronautics and Aircraft Engineering departments also supported the design, certification, and flight-testing of the alternatively fuelled aircraft. UHI-ERI was involved in the socio-economic impacts study, to better understand the implications of green aviation developments.

ROBINSON

ROBINSON aimed to develop an integrated energy system to help decarbonise industrialised islands. The project developed and deployed an integrated, smart and cost-efficient energy system that optimised the use of local renewable energy sources.

FORTUNE

FORTUNE: Obtained, for the first time, systematic, long-term measurements of underwater noise generated by two operational floating offshore wind (FOW) turbines of different designs across a range of environmental conditions.

Led by researchers at the Environmental Research Institute (ERI), this study examines how accurately four widely used wave reanalysis models (ECHOWAVE, ECMWF ERA5, WAVEWATCH III, and Copernicus Global Ocean Waves Analysis and Forecast WAVERYS) represent real ocean conditions in northern Scottish waters, an area where marine renewable energy development is rapidly expanding. The study examined the effectiveness of the models by comparing them to in-situ wave buoy measurements collected between 2011 and 2015 at multiple locations in the area.

Reliable long-term wave information is essential for understanding wave energy potential, designing offshore structures and planning safe, efficient operations. However, measured wave records are often too short in duration for the IEC standard requirements, or unavailable for many locations, making reanalysis datasets a crucial alternative.

The comparison shows that all four models capture the general wave climate well, but ECHOWAVE stands out as the most accurate and reliable across the region. Its high-resolution design and tailored North East Atlantic calibration allow it to track both typical and energetic wave conditions. While reanalysis datasets remain invaluable for long-term wave climate assessments, developers of marine renewable energy projects should be aware of their limitations in capturing extreme wave events, indeed here WAVEWATCH III tends to perform better, making it useful for predicting rare, high impact waves.  

Continual improvement in reanalysis models such as high-resolution models like ECHOWAVE show high correlation to in-situ datasets in northern Scotland and are highly suitable for long-term wave energy and risk assessment in intermediate waters, which is of great importance when planning and designing offshore projects in challenging ocean environments.

The full study can be found here.