ATSA recently supported Elemental Energy Technologies Limited in the establishment of their Endurance Testing Centre at the Eraring Power Station, Lake Macquarie, NSW.

Elemental Energy Technologies Limited develops a range of turbines for generating cost-effective, predictable, renewable energy from the movement of water in tides, rivers and ocean streams. The Testing Centre was established to test the SeaUrchin SU550 turbine, generating valuable data on the long term endurance of their turbine designs.

Constructed in the inlet canal that provides cooling water to the power station, the variable flow rate in the canal — depending on electricity demand — was the ideal location for testing the SeaUrchin SU550 turbine, under a range of conditions.

ATSA provided overall project management for the scope of work which included construction of a specially designed test frame, installation at Eraring and set-to-work of the turbine and balance of system.

ATSA engineers also designed and implemented the data monitoring system. This included measurement of water flow rate (using a Teledyne RDI Channel Master ADCP) and monitoring of turbine rotational speed, generated voltage, current, power and other data.

Becoming a part of the “Internet of Things”, the SeaUrchin data was webcast using ThingsSpeak in real time.

EET managing director Douglas Hunt says that ATSA had been an ideal partner for the Endurance Testing Centre project, “ATSA brought a professional and flexible approach to the development project.”

“Their experience in subsea engineering was very valuable in rapidly developing a system that worked first time in the current flows in the inlet channel”.

EET continues with testing at the Endurance Testing Centre and is developing new types of turbines based on lessons learned and data from the test program.