Research group

Ocean Energy

Offshore wind turbines producing renewable and green energy

We bring together experts addressing energy challenges from the perspectives of technology, the environment, society, finance, and policy. Our aim is to unlock the potential of ocean renewable energy.

    About

    The Ocean Energy Special Interest Group (SIG) serves as a hub at the University of Southampton for matters related to the role of seas and oceans in decarbonizing the economy. It also helps achieve net-zero goals worldwide.

    Research areas

    Our topics of interest are centred around technological, environmental, societal, financial, and policy challenges related to:

    • harvesting of renewable energies (eg offshore wind, wave, freestream tidal energy, tidal barrages and floating solar systems)
    • storage and transformation of offshore energy (eg energy islands, H2 creation)
    • sustainable decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructures

    Oceans are pivotal in the world strategy to meet the net-zero objectives, by providing abundant and clean sources of renewable energy. However, the full exploitation of this energy resource faces many challenges of diverse nature. These include the harsh offshore environment, sharing the ocean with many stakeholders, and evolving policy and regulations. Most importantly, it is essential to avoid mistakes of the past and wild industrialisation of our seas and oceans.

    Vision and aims

    Our vision is to bring together people and skills from across the university and many fields of research to develop transdisciplinary approaches for sustainable ocean energy exploitation. We do this through:

    • fostering research collaboration between faculties and fields of research
    • fostering collaboration with non-academic stakeholders and serving as a contact point for ocean energy matters
    • raising awareness of ocean energy challenges and showcasing how the University of Southampton is working to address these challenges through research, knowledge exchange and other means

    Activities

    Our events and opportunities are designed in line with the goals we aim to achieve. They include a combination of internal and external activities, such as:

    • themed workshops or lectures bringing together academic and non-academic partners
    • sandpit activities to lay the foundations of interdisciplinary grant application or paper writing
    • invited lectures on case studies from industry
    • development of educational material or media briefings

    To find out more about the Ocean Energy Special Interest Group and what we do, get in touch with group champions Dr Yao Zhang, Dr Luke Myers and Dr Benjamin Cerfontaine.

    Join the SMMI Community to sign up to this group, and any others of interest to you.

    Research highlights

    Making offshore carbon storage safe

    A team of researchers in Southampton played a key role in a European project to determine the viability of safely and securely storing carbon offshore.

    Optimising power transfer for renewable energy

    Our researchers are running a series of projects to optimise the design of marine high voltage cables, used in offshore windfarms, to maximise power transfer and save money.

    People, projects and publications

    People

    Dr Ramsey Selim

    Head of Business Development,CORNERSTONE
    Connect with Ramsey

    Professor Robert Raja

    Prof of Materials Chemistry & Catalysis

    Research interests

    • Heterogeneous Catalysis
    • Sustainable Chemistry
    • Carbon Capture Storage and Utilisation

    Accepting applications from PhD students

    Connect with Robert

    Dr Rodrigo Ortiz Vazquez

    Research Fellow

    Accepting applications from PhD students

    Connect with Rodrigo

    Professor Stephen Turnock

    Head of School

    Research interests

    • His fluid dynamics expertise lies in the synthesis of analytical, experimental and computational methods for a diverse range of applications. Examples of such work are in the development of a patented integrated tidal energy generator (winner of The Engineers’ Energy Sector Innovation award 2008), supervision of the students who designed Amy Williams’ Gold medal winning bob skeleton sled (winner of The Engineer’s Sport Technology Innovation award in 2010) and with continued support for Gold medal success in 2014 and 2018, academic supervisor for the Delphin Autonomous underwater vehicle (winner of the SAUC-E competition in 2007).
    • He has acted as a consultant to diverse organisations including NOC, Speedo, Shell Shipping, BAEsystems, Rolls Royce, dstl, QinetiQ, and WS Atkins.
    • Expertise: Future Fuels for Shipping; Maritime Robotics and Autonomy; Rudder, hydrofoil, and control surface design; Unsteady race simulation for kayak, rowing and sailing; Hull-propeller-rudder interaction; Ship added resistance and manoeuvring in waves; Underwater noise prediction using CFD; Experimental techniques for use of wave/tow tank testing; Tidal turbines, wave energy and offshore wind turbine design; Wind turbine array power prediction; Hydrogen fuel cells for hybrid ship propulsion; Hydrodynamics of swimming assessment by pool based test techniques and using CFD.

    Accepting applications from PhD students

    Connect with Stephen

    Professor Suleiman Sharkh BEng, PhD, CEng, MIET

    Prof of Electrical Machines and Drives

    Research interests

    • Electric Machines
    • Power Electronics
    • Microgrids

    Accepting applications from PhD students

    Connect with Suleiman

    Professor Tiina Roose

    Professor-Biological&Environmental Model
    Connect with Tiina

    Professor Tim Henstock

    Professor of Geophysics

    Accepting applications from PhD students

    Connect with Tim

    Related research institutes, centres and groups

    Related research institutes, centres and groups

    Connect with us

    Enquiries

    If you're interested in joining us or collaborating, get in touch with the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute.