Cardiff professor delivers prestigious ICE lecture
4 February 2015
Cardiff School of Engineering Professor Roger Falconer has delivered the prestigious Institution of Civil Engineers' Dugald Clerk lecture for 2015 on the topic of tidal energy.
The biennial lecture, which was held in London, is given on subjects connected with mechanical engineering and water or coastal structures, and has become ICE's prestige lecture for the water sector.
The Dugald Clerk lecture series was instituted in 1938 following a bequest made by Sir Dugald Clerk (1854-1932), a former ICE Vice-President.
Professor Roger Falconer is based within the Hydro-environmental Research Centre (HRC) and is the CH2M HILL Professor of Water Management at Cardiff School of Engineering.
His talk, entitled Tidal Energy – Challenges and Opportunities, examined the topic of tidal energy in the context of national and international projects and proposals, illustrated by the HRC's research studies in the field.
These include: the Severn Barrage, the Welsh Grounds Lagoon, the North Wales lagoons and novel vertical axis turbines designed by Professor Thorsten Stroesser (also at Cardiff School of Engineering).
In his talk, Professor Falconer highlighted the considerable opportunities available for acquiring renewable tidal energy from the Severn Estuary, complemented by further opportunities along the North Wales coast and other areas where power production is four hours out of phase with the Severn river.
He also discussed the HRC's new design for a Severn Barrage, which addresses most of the environmental concerns raised with regard to the previous Severn Tidal Power Group scheme.