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The Tidal Energy Research Group is part of the Environmental Fluid Mechanics research group within Civil Engineering in the Department of Engineering Science.
We conduct research into clean, renewable energy generation from tidal flows. The group works closely with the Wind Energy Research Group to exploit the close ties between the two fields.
The group has a variety of active research projects using analytical, numerical and experimental techniques spanning three main topics:
- assessment of the effects of energy extraction from tidal basins,
- investigation of tidal turbine hydrodynamics and next generation turbine design,
- investigation of multi-turbine fences and support systems
We are multi-disciplinary and come from a range of different backgrounds across engineering and the physical sciences. Further information on the group's research can be found under the research section.
Please see the opportunities page for details of current vacancies within the group.
Events
The group organises the Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop series, hosted at the Department of Engineering Science. Proceedings from past workshops can be found below.
Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop, 29-30 March 2012
2nd Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop (OTE 2013), 18-19 March 2013
3rd Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop (OTE 2014), 7-8 April 2014
4th Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop (OTE 2015), 23-24 March 2015
5th Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop (OTE 2016), 21-22 March 2016
6th Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop (OTE 2018), 26-27 March 2018
7th Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop (OTE 2019), 8-9 April 2019
Collaboration
The group has research collaborations with other groups within the Engineering Science department working in the energy area
Support
The group has been involved in a number of major research projects, including the MaRINET2 Advanced Tidal Hydrodynamics Experiments for Novel Arrays (ATHENA) project, Supergen Marine and Wave Energy Scotland Tidal Stream Turbine Fence Technology Demonstrator, the Supergen Marine Challenge Project SMARTY on extreme loading and operational limits for marine energy converters, the Performance Assessment of Wave and Tidal Array Systems (PerAWaT) project funded by the Energy Technologies Institute, the Oxford Martin School's Programme on Globalising Tidal Power Generation. Professor Willden is the EPSRC's only Established Career Research Fellow in Offshore Renewable Energy.
The group is grateful for the support that it has received support from a number of organisations, including those listed below:
