Abstract:

During recent years, the development of non-conventional renewable energy technologies has received increasing attention due to the environmental problems derived from the use of fossil fuels. One of these non-conventional sources is the marine energy, which has focused the efforts of researchers, managers and engineering companies since it has the potential to provide up to 7% of global electricity demand in the next few decades.

Two main types of technologies for marine renewable energies are being developed:
(1) the extraction of energy from tidal currents using tidal energy converters (TECs) and
(2) the extraction of energy from wind waves by wave energy converters (WECs).

Among the main advantages of tidal power are its predictability, its low environmental impacts and that TECs are usually located close to the existing electrical infrastructures, reducing the necessary investments. On the other hand, WECs have the potential to generate an important amount of energy, can be co-located with offshore wind farms, and be placed close to the shoreline. They can be used also as a mitigation measure of coastal erosion and flooding.

To take advantage of these two technologies, optimal locations for their exploitation must be found. In the case of TECs, areas with important tidal currents are required. These areas are usually placed at coastal environments with important tidal ranges or locations where the local bathymetric conditions amplify the water velocities. Hence, the hydrodynamics of coastal areas must be assessed to optimize the location of the TECs. In the case of the WECs, they are usually placed in arrays of several devices in which they interact between each other. These interactions are crucial for the efficiency of the project, since they can significantly increase or decrease the energy production respect to isolated devices. Hence, the wave field around the devices and how the WECs modify it must be assessed to analyzed the potential location of WEC arrays.

Considering the complexity of these analyses, and given the future perspectives of the marine renewable technologies, it seems to be urgent for teachers to adapt its undergraduate courses mainly at engineering degrees. The student must receive the necessary training to evaluate the efficiency of such technologies at a specific place. For that purpose, they must be trained in assessing and analyzing both the coastal hydrodynamics and wave fields. With this premise, the staff of the Environmental Fluid Dynamic group has incorporated its research experience in the field of marine renewable energies to their lessons at different courses in the Civil Engineering degrees at the Universities of Granada and Seville (Spain). In the conference, we will show how we have modified these lessons and the training that students receive, analyzing the results of this experience.

The new training is focused on how to adapt and implement complex numerical models to evaluate alternatives of locations. Students also receive the necessary theoretical lessons to understand how these technologies work and the fundamental background of the numerical models. The results have been satisfactory for both students and teachers, being the first specially motivated as they receive training in a cutting edge field with positive labor perspectives.

Keywords:

Renewable energies, teaching innovation, civil engineering, sustainability.