TIGER
Project: TIGER (Tidal Stream Industry Energiser)
Timescale: 2019 – 2023 (47 months)
Funder: Interreg France (Channel) England Programme
Funding: ERDF funding € 29 million / total project budget € 45.4 million
Project website: www.InterregTiger.com
Project overview
The tidal energy capacity in the Channel region is predicted to be nearly 4 GW – enough to power up to four million homes.
The TIGER project, launched in 2019 to drive tidal energy growth in the UK and France, has demonstrated the significant value tidal stream energy can bring to the future energy mix, economies and supply chains in both the UK and France.
TIGER is the largest project funded by the Interreg France (Channel) England Programme, with €48.4 million invested to drive collaboration and cost reduction through tidal turbine installations in the UK and France.
The project, led by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, enabled installation of four new tidal stream energy devices at test sites in and around the Channel region, with a further 16 in development. This created a total of 3.6 MW new tidal capacity, with a further 57.4 MW in the pipeline. The project positively contributed to three TIGER developers successfully accessing £20 million per annum of tidal stream energy generation subsidy awards, through the UK Government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme and new discussions have opened on French tidal stream Feed-in-Tariffs.
Instrumental to the success of the project was collaboration between the 18 TIGER partners across the UK and France, spanning turbine developers, ocean energy demonstration sites, research organisations, and local and regional authorities, each supporting the tidal industry as it moves towards commercialisation.
EMEC role
EMEC supports communications and stakeholder engagement, as well as site development, resource assessments and performance assessment of technologies.
Tidal resource modelling and ADCP campaigns
EMEC ran ADCP campaigns at Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight and Raz Blanchard in France, as well as tidal resource modelling of the channel region and providing technical support for the TIGER partners.
Test procedures
EMEC developed four test procedure reports for the tidal sector:
- IEC/TS 62600:200 Gap Analysis and Feedback: sharing adaptions to provide clearer guidance and requirements for floating tidal energy converters.
- Test Procedure Report 2 IEC/TS62600-200 Feedback and Recommendations for Floating TEC Incident Resource Measurement for Power Performance Assessment: guidance and recommendations for measuring the incident resource when assessing the performance of a floating TEC based on EMEC’s experience using the technical specification in practice.
- Recommendations for non-conventional tidal energy converters: resource measurement for power performance: recommendations have been made as how the performance of a non-conventional tidal energy converter might be measured and where further research may be required in order to develop a standardised test methodology
- Recommendations and lessons learnt for ADCP deployments: sharing lessons learnt and making recommendations for Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler deployment campaigns at new tidal sites.
PTEC site consenting
EMEC led on the reconsenting works at the Perpetuus Tidal Energy Centre (PTEC) in the Isle of Wight. We supported an updated Section 36 consent application, full planning application, Environmental Impact Assessment and SSEN grid application; these efforts were rewarded in December 2021 as the site was granted planning permission making it eligible to bid into the government’s Contracts for Difference scheme.
EMEC also contributed to a research paper: Impacts of tidal stream power on energy system security: An Isle of Wight case study.
Supply chain and investor engagement
EMEC has support the growth of the tidal energy supply chain, coordinating a series of supply chain webinars, meet the buyer events, and working with the investment community to reduce risk and increase confidence in the sector.
- Subsea cables and connectors
- Tidal energy opportunities for steel manufacturing and supply chain learning
- Growing the supply chain for cost effective reliable composite blades, tooling and sensor design for tidal turbines
- Anti-fouling and anti-corrosion requirements of tidal turbines
- Reliability & condition monitoring of tidal turbines
- Onshore and offshore mobilisation and logistics
- French supply chain
- UK supply chain
TIGER case studies
EMEC has produced a series of ten case studies to highlight each stage of the tidal turbine deployment ‘life-cycle’ to collectively illustrate examples of cost reduction technology, successful deployment of offshore renewable energy in the Channel-Manche region, based on the work of the TIGER project. Available to download in English or French.
- Influencing Economic Policy
- Finance and Insurance
- Optimal wave and current modelling for the Channel region
- Tidal Stream Site Selection
- Planning Consent & Grid Connection
- Design Development
- Testing & Validation
- Component Manufacture & Turbine Assembly
- Turbine Deployment & Entry Into Service
- Operate & Maintain, Recover & Decommission
Reports and publications
The project included real world demonstrations, published scientific research industry reports, specifically:
- Tidal Stream Site Cost Reduction Report
- Energy Systems Benefits
- Volume Manufacturing Roadmap
- Ocean Energy Accelerator
These reports demonstrate the cost reduction trajectory that can be achieved, as well as how the UK and France can generate over 80% of materials from the local supply chain, create up to 45 jobs per MW deployed – exceeding the wind and solar industries, and contribute up to £17 billion to the UK economy by 2050.
The project outcomes and results have been shared on the TIGER website: www.interregtiger.com/resources/
News
- May 2023: TIGER project is driving growth of tidal energy in UK and France
- Feb 2023: Tidal stream power can significantly enhance energy security
- October 2022: New report highlights promising tidal energy cost reduction pathway
- December 2021: Isle of Wight tidal power project gains consent
- November 2020: Testing the power performance of marine energy devices
- October 2020: EMEC enters partnership with PTEC to grow UK tidal energy market
- October 2019: Game-changing tidal energy project approved for Channel regions
Partners
- Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Cornwall, UK (Project lead)
- University of Exeter, Cornwall and Devon, UK
- University of Plymouth, Devon, UK
- University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- Cambrian Offshore South West, Cornwall, UK
- Orbital Marine Power, Edinburgh, UK
- European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), Orkney, UK
- EDF Hydro, Rennes, France
- Normandie Hydroliennes, France
- SEENEOH, Bordeaux, France
- Bretagne Developpement Innovation, France
- Hydroquest, France
- MorbihanHydroEnergies SASU, France
- University of Caen Normandy, France
- University Le Havre Normandy, France
- University Bretagne Sud, France
- Minesto AB, Sweden
- QED Naval, Edinburgh, UK
