SmartBay | SmartBay

SmartBay
SmartBay
Lead Organisation Marine Institute
Country Ireland
Type Wave,
Current,
Floating Wind
Website https://www.smartbay.ie
twitter linkedin
  • Type of Testing Wave,
    Current,
    Floating Wind
    Year Established 2006
    Temperate/Tropical Temperate
    Commercial/Array/Full scale/Scale Array, Intermediary Scale
    Development Status Operational

    Overview

    The SmartBay Marine and Renewable Energy Test Site is Ireland’s national facility for the development, testing and validation of marine renewable energy prototypes, novel marine sensors, marine equipment and for the monitoring and dissemination of marine environmental data. The test site is located in Galway Bay, on the Atlantic coast, east of the village of Spiddal. The test site also has an underwater cabled observatory which provides low level power and data connectivity to the test site.

    The test site is suitable for developers wishing to undertake low-cost sea trials and validation of devices and components at various technology readiness levels. Users of SmartBay are supported by a multidisciplinary team with the scientific, technological, ICT and commercial experience necessary to develop, test and validate innovative solutions for the marine and renewable energy sectors.
  • Number of Berths 3
    Water Depth
    Min Water Depth (m)
    Max Water Depth (m) 25m
    Avg Water Depth (m) 23m
    Annual mean significant wave height 0.9m
    Maximum recorded wave height 8.7m
    Mean (averaged current speed)
    Maximum current speed 1.6 m/s
    Maximum tidal range 5m
    Mean wind speed 6 m/s
    Max wind speed 47 m/s
    Seabed type Muddy fine sand to course sand
    Total test area (km2) 0.4 km2
    Distance to land 1.27 km
    Grid connected N
    Grid connection capacity
    Rated export capacity and connection
    Proximity to nearest harbour (km) 18 km

  • Demonstration Projects

    R&D Projects

    Infrastructure

    http://smartbay.ie/facilities/

    3 test berth areas for testing wave or floating offshore wind technologies.

    • Fully licenced test site for ocean energy devices
    • Site located approx. 1.5km offshore with water depths ranging from 20m – 25m
    • Fully characterised wave climate
    • Comprehensive time-series of weather, wave and current data for the site
    • Proximity to ports and associated facilities

    Data Buoys / Technology Platforms:

    • Mobilis DB8000 buoys are currently in use for testing and validating a range of novel sensors and to efficiently gather metocean time series data.

    Subsea Observatory:

    • A sub-sea cabled observatory is deployed at the site and is powered by a hybrid optical/electrical cable. The observatory can provide power to, and receive data from, up to three Ocean Energy devices (1.2kW per device). Several optical and electrical connectivity options are available with a number of permanent sensors and a high-definition camera installed for monitoring

    The sub-sea cabled observatory includes:

    • A fibre optic data and 400v power cable
    • High speed communications via 4 pairs of optical fibres
    • A sub-sea cabled sensor platform which hosts a variety of sensors and equipment which can be tested and demonstrated in near real-time.

    The cabled observatory hosts the following sensors on a permanent basis:

    • Conductivity, Temperature and Depth
    • Dissolved Oxygen
    • Combined Turbidity and Fluorescence sensor
    • Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
    • High frequency hydrophone
    • Partial pressure of Carbon Dioxide (pCO2)

    Services of test programmes offered on site

    Key supply chain companies in the region

    Supply chain information at: https://www.marine-ireland.ie/directory/