City to be cutting edge of wave power with new test centre

A scale model shows how the facility's interior would look

Experts say the 9.3 million wave tank would be the most sophisticated facility for testing wave and current devices in the world - cementing the Capital as a powerhouse in the field of marine renewable energy.

A 30-metre diameter basin will allow boffins to test drive renewable technologies in controlled, but almost identical, environments to that they would encounter on the open sea.

The research tank is equipped with 168 computerised flaps triggered to replicate a vast array of wave conditions as well as 28 huge impellers fitted beneath the floor of the basin to generate artificial currents.

The project is spearheaded by Flowave TT, a subsidiary company of Edinburgh University, which will jointly finance the facility alongside the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

It will be built on the west side of the university's Kings Buildings campus in the city.

Project chief scientist, Professor Ian Bryden, said the centre is among the most exciting developments of his 30-year career in the field.

"When I look back over my professional life it's my expectation that pressing the button to start those first waves will be my favourite moment," he said.

"It will be the most sophisticated wave facility that has ever existed, there's nothing like it in the world.

"We are expecting it to be used by international teams, not just academics but industry. We see it having academic research and industrial applications, including the oil industry."

Professor Bryden explained that the basin would be capable of simulating waters throughout the British Isles at scales of one tenth, but could also be used to replicate wave and current conditions anywhere in the world.

Taking a new technology into the open sea was a "risky step", he said, and the so-called 'UK All-Waters Combined Current and Wave Test Facility' was intended to help reduce that risk by ironing out kinks using scaled-down models.

He said: "Many developments have failed because they were not able to bridge the huge step between laboratory and the sea because there was too much uncertainty.

"We would expect developers to use access to our facility to refine their design before they make the big step of going out into the sea."

The university has a heritage of marine energy research, including the development of novel experimental techniques dating back to the 1970s.

Professor Bryden believes the new facility can only enhance the Capital's reputation.

He added: "It will greatly increase Scotland's chance of meeting its renewable target."

If approved by the council, the research tank is scheduled to be completed by summer 2013.