Press release: Brunel Uni to host Marine Moorings Masterclass

Innovate UK project to share challenges and learning around marine moorings

An Innovate UK funded project – STORM – is organising a Marine Moorings Masterclass to be held at Brunel University London, Friday 26th January 2018.

Led by Tension Technology International (TTI), the STORM (Specialised Thimbles for Offshore Renewable Marine energy) project has designed a new multi-material hybrid connector to aid the operation and lifespan of marine mooring systems.

As the project draws to a close, the STORM project partners – TTI, Brunel University London, Nylacast and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) – invite representatives from the offshore wind, wave and tidal energy sectors to share their experiences and challenges in marine moorings.

As ocean energy is a developing industry, with limited hours in the water relative to other more mature industries, STORM’s project partners would also like to engage with other offshore industries that use marine moorings (for instance oil & gas) so that lessons learned can be transferred cross-sector.

Through discussing existing challenges and solutions, the Marine Moorings Masterclass aims to identify the existing gaps and needs of the industry, encourage new partnerships to form and develop further R&D projects around moorings in order to tack this vital component within the offshore energy industry.

Further details on the workshop, including how to get involved, can be found online: www.tinyurl.com/MarineMooringsMasterclass

Nigel Briggs, STORM Project Manager, at TTI said:

“Mooring systems are critical for the success of offshore floating renewable energy devices, which are constantly pushed to their extreme limits in high energy environments.

“The STORM project has designed a new multi-material hybrid connector which we want to share with the industry, but rather than simply focus on what we have done, we want to bring together moorings experts, offshore energy developers and supply chain companies to share common challenges and learning around marine mooring applications and experiences, and discuss the progress in developing, testing and operating solutions for this vital marine energy subsystem.

“By working together, and reducing duplication of effort on developing moorings solutions, marine energy developers can focus on the most vital aspect of marine energy technology development aiding there move towards commercialisation.”

STORM background

Funded by Innovate UK, the STORM (Specialised Thimbles for Offshore Renewable Marine energy) project aims to design a new multi-material hybrid connector which will be lighter, easier to assemble, and enhance the lifespan of mooring systems.

The project is led by Tension Technology International (TTI) and includes Brunel University London, Nylacast and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC).

The innovation uses the next generation of nylon/AI composite materials which, when combined, exhibit higher strength, high corrosion resistance, low coefficient of friction, and are lightweight. For offshore renewable energy devices, this will result in increased deployability, increased reliability, and longer in-service times. This will yield an increase in energy output and improvement in safety, whilst reducing failures and offshore maintenance operations which will ultimately help reduce the LCOE for the industry.