The project, which also aims to reduce design phase risk and help design optimization, will exploit reliability data and generic lessons learnt from industries such as offshore wind, oil and gas, defense, automotive and rail.
The first phases of the project will include identification of existing data on tidal turbine reliability and any data gaps. The team will then define a process and simulation methodology in order to forecast degradation or potential failure, as well as the reliability of a tidal turbine.
As part of the second phase of the project, the team will collect data through planned live testing, and then develop a range of tools that can be used during design stage.
The third phase focuses on the development of a recommended best practice guide on design optimization.
ORE Catapult Marine Sector specialist Simon Cheeseman said: "Improving the reliability of tidal turbine powertrains, and being able to more accurately predict failure rates at the design stage, will significantly increase investor confidence in tidal turbine technology and will ultimately reduce the cost of tidal energy to the consumer.
"This project allows ORE Catapult to further develop our knowledge and expertise with regards to tidal turbine reliability issues, and offer an enhanced service from our existing tidal turbine test facility, offering value-added services that are highly attractive to industry."
