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

    Emeritus Professor Victor Humphrey

    Research interests

    • Professor Humphrey has particular research interests in the areas of medical ultrasound and underwater acoustics. Common themes running through his research include the understanding and application of non-linear acoustics and the laboratory measurement of physical acoustic phenomena including scattering. His main research interests include: · Nonlinear propagation, streaming and imaging in medical ultrasonics; · Ultrasonic heating and propagation in biological media; · Parametric arrays and their application to acoustic measurements in the laboratory; · Acoustic transmission and reflection properties of isotropic and anisotropic materials; · Scattering from objects and methods of measuring and predicting the scattered field for regular and irregular bodies; · Numerical modelling of transducers and fields.
    Connect with Victor

    Professor Yannis Ieropoulos PhD, MIET

    Professor of Environmental Engineering

    Research interests

    • Environmental Engineering;
    • Bioelectrochemistry;
    • Autonomous Bio-Robotics;

    Accepting applications from PhD students

    Connect with Yannis

    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.