Cambridge, UK – 14th June, 2010 – Marine start-up, Green-Tide Turbines (G-TT), has appointed Cambridge Consultants to help with the development of its tidal stream turbines. G-TT promises to revolutionise tidal energy in the same way that jet engines changed the face of aviation. Their turbines use natural water movement to tap energy from the tidal stream, helping to bring more cost effective renewable energy to the world. Cambridge Consultants has been contracted to carry out G-TT’s Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analysis design – once again demonstrating its credentials at helping start-ups answer complex technical questions and offering vital support as they seek a route-to-market.

By 2020 the UK Government has committed to 20% of its total energy requirements coming from renewable sources. Of this, it is estimated that only 3% will be from a combination of tidal and wave devices, but G-TT believe marine renewables have the potential of providing 15 – 20% of the UK’s energy needs if deployed correctly. Current tidal stream technologies are still at an early stage of development and one of the main technical challenges developers are facing is how to best predict and plan how the underwater turbines will interact and work with the varying depths, strengths and directions of water flow. To help overcome this challenge, G-TT called upon Cambridge Consultants to carry out CFD analysis, which is an essential part of the turbines design process.

Green-Tide’s turbine technology aims to achieve 30% capital cost savings relative to competing technologies by a means of an optimized innovative design that operates at a higher efficiency and uses less material.

“As a start-up company operating in a market that is still in its infancy, selecting our technology partners was a detailed process. We took recommendations from key figures in the industry who advised that CC had the right staff and skills in turbo machinery analysis” said Michael Evans, CEO Green-Tide Turbines. “After meeting with them, we felt confident that they were the right partner to provide Computer Fluid Dynamics support and engineering services to our project. They are now a fully integrated member of our development team.”

“We find this type of analysis is essential in achieving good results on your R&D process. By the use of appropriate modeling, the development process can be shortened and risks reduced” commented Craig Webster, head of Cleantech at Cambridge Consultants “It is important that start-ups have access to this level of technology. All too often, we find that financial restrictions coupled with a need to show hardware to investors encourages them to short circuit this process. However our experience is that it’s much better to do the right thing early on, than to cut corners and bear the cost of dealing with any issues later on in the process. Our teams develop new technologies and deal with development challenges on a day to-day-basis. We know how to apply the right analytical techniques in an appropriate manner for the early stages of a project.  As such, we are delighted to work with innovative start-ups, like G-TT, and are willing to tailor our services to their needs. Indeed some of today’s most successful clients were start ups when we first met them.”

Green-Tide Turbines Ltd were among the leading figures from across the energy sector descended on Manchester for the prestigious black-tie dinner at the Hilton Deansgate Hotel, hosted by writer, columnist and presenter Guy Browning.

The awards, the brainchild of Cheshire’s world-class Energy Innovation Centre, attracted entries from across the UK and Europe and plans are already in place to build upon this in 2011.

The awards were supported by a host of leading organisations including the Northwest Regional Development Agency, European Regional Development Fund, Department for Energy and Climate Change, EA Technology Group, EA Technology Ventures, Energy Networks Association, Electricity North West, Envirolink Northwest, IET, Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy and UKTI.

Addressing the 200 strong audience, Denise Massey, Director of the Energy Innovation Centre, paid tribute to all of the winners and runners up as she said:

“These awards not only recognise the marvellous advancements in technology being developed behind the scenes, but also the sheer tenacity of individuals and teams investing their all in creating new solutions and technologies. Success happens after most people have given up and we’ve shared our evening with some truly remarkable individuals. Well done to all of the winners. We hope that these awards inspire further innovation within the industry here in the UK and internationally, and we look forward to building upon the success of our inaugural awards in the years to come.”

Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of the NWDA, said:

“The Energy Innovation Awards are testament to the hard work taking place across the region as we work towards the goal of a low carbon Northwest. I’m pleased to support these awards and reward companies for their investment into energy-efficient technologies.

The region is a leading example, developing energy-efficient, high-tech environmental technologies. I hope that the success of this year’s awards spur others on so that we can continue to build on this success.”

Manchester-based company Out There Events supported the Energy Innovation Centre in staging the awards.

Green-Tide Turbines Ltd’s in-river test facility is now on-line.

The facility is built in a disused Water Mill on the River Cam and allows us to conduct in-river testing of our turbines at various flow conditions.

The Mill test facility will be essential in finding the optimum rotor and generator combinations and will be used to conduct live river testing.