Brian the Sea Snail

Scotland is the place... for engineering

Scotland is famous for its pioneering engineering that helped fuel the industrial revolution and continues to drive change and progress to this day.

At the forefront of this research and development is the Sea Snail, a 30-ton freestanding tidal energy turbine system.

New challenges such as the threat to the environment from global warming have meant that sustainable energy sources such as solar, wave, wind and water are being explored to find the best ways of harnessing their power and making them available to the millions of people who need them.

‘Brian’ as he is known was conceived and developed by Professor Ian Bryden of Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. The turbine prototype was launched off the coast of Orkney in 2003 and the successful trial meant that the full sized version was installed at Burra Sound in Orkney in 2005.

As the Sea Snail is prefabricated it can be cheaply installed in various depths of water, thus increasing the potential number of sites where it can be used. According to Alan Owen, a Research Fellow in the School of Engineering at Robert Gordon University who was project leader and instrumental in the development and successful launch of the project, the Sea Snail can take a turbine down to any depth on the sea floor and back on command, perfect for smaller, single-turbine sites.

The project tackled a major obstacle in harnessing wave power – the fact that it’s extremely difficult to attach something to the sea bed in areas of energetic flows. A way around this problem had to be found and Professor Bryden came up with the idea of using reversible hydrofoils that would produce a down force and keep the turbine in place.

The benefit of tidal currents is that they offer a substantial and predictable source of renewable energy.  The Scottish resource alone, if developed effectively, could provide enough electricity to support a population of 15 million. This potential meant that the project received £158,000 from Scottish Enterprise's Proof of Concept Fund could go a considerable way toward meeting the Scottish Government’s environmental goal – to produce 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Energy Minister Jim Mather, speaking ahead of meetings and a seminar in Brussels to update the European Union on Scotland's energy objectives said:

"Scotland is already a world leader in the energy and engineering sectors and is known for its innovation and talent. Harnessing this talent to generate more renewable energy will give us a vibrant energy sector that makes a significant contribution to Scotland's future prosperity and help build increased, sustainable economic growth."

All of this is exciting news for Scotland's renewable energy technologies industry, which has the potential to become a major employer over the coming years. Add to this the potential export market for prefabricated tidal current devices that can be installed without specialist hardware, and it’s plain to see that innovative engineering that produces results like Brian the Sea Snail is not only good for the environment but good for the Scottish economy too.

Related Links

• Robert Gordon's University
• Scottish Enterprise Proof of Concept Programme