The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Whitford brushing up at Emec
Maritime: Coatings giant chooses Orkney’s harsh climate to test range of products
The European Marine Energy Centre (Emec) has been chosen by coatings giant Whitford to test highperformance coatings in Orkney.
The long-term project will analyse existing and developmental coating products to assess their suitability for applications within the marine renewables industry, as well as for other offshore industries such as offshore wind, and oil and gas.
For the initial stages of the project, Whitford have been testing coated panels
“Emec provides perfect location in which to test Whitford’s coatings”
and bolts in Stromness Harbour, which can be seen on the side of the pier at low tide.
Providing a good representation of a ‘splash zone’, the pier is intermittently exposed to air and immersed in the sea.
The panels are therefore subject to a range of wet and dry conditions as the test pieces are submerged in line with the ebb and flow of the tide.
Gareth Berry, renewable energy manager at Whitford, said: “As the leading test site globally within the marine renewable energy sector, Emec is an excellent partner for us to work with on this project.
“With some of the harshest wave and tidal conditions in the world, Emec provides the perfect location in which to test the performance of Whitford’s coatings in dynamic and volatile environments.
“We’ll be exposing the coatings at different loca- tions and for different periods of time to assess their durability. The pier provides an easily accessible location which can be easily reached and regularly monitored for the initial stages of this project”.
Neil Kermode, Emec’s managing director said: “Effective coatings are vital to ensure wave and tidal energy devices survive and continue to work whilst at sea.
“Through our experience we have seen how unprotected materials suffer and how effective protection makes marine energy possible. The performance of the Whitford coatings has been remarkable.”
The test centre will be showing a panel that has completed its initial tests at its stand at the International Conference on Ocean Energy next week in Edinburgh.
Meanwhile, Orkneybased Scotrenewables Tidal Power has completed deployment of its advanced modular anchoring system at the Orkney centre.
The anchor deployment formed part of a novel tidal anchors project for floating technologies, which was carried out in partnership with McLaughlin & Harvey, SeaRoc and Scotmarine.
The project was supported by the Scottish Government’s Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund, which was established to support the development of enabling technology for marine energy arrays and by Invest NI.