Ben Yeats
MSc, CEng, MIMarEST.

Old Drummond House,
28 Oak Avenue,
Inverness, IV24NX,
Scotland.

 

Tel: 01463 233338
Mob: 07749504429
email: yeats@tensiontech.com

 

CAREER

MARINE RENEWABLES (20 years)

Oct 13 - Present - Tension Technology International Ltd,
Senior Consultant & Director of TTI Marine Renewables Ltd, Inverness

Mooring design consultant and business development in Scotland. I initiated and led successful Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) application with 9 industrial and academic partners. I am Project Manager for MRCF project -  “Commercialisation of Testing, Qualification Advanced Mooring System for Wave & Tidal Arrays funded under Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund”.  £1.8M budget.

Marine renewables consultancy services. Recent marine renewable clients include: Wave Power Technologies Ltd and Marine Power Systems Ltd. Initial business development for Oceaneranet wave power proposal with EMEC and Laminaria. Consultant for offshore floating wind developer IDEOL who will be testing their Nylon based mooring 2MW demonstrator at SEMREV. Project lead for EU demonwind project with Enerocean for prototype deployment. Partner on Scottish Enterprise cabling project for tidal arrays. Marine expert to DTOcean FP7 project led by University of Edinburgh.

Oct 13 -Present - Voestrom Ltd, Inverness, Scotland
Owner and Managing Director of marine renewables consultancy

 

Oct 13-July 15  - Orion Energy Centre, Inverness, Scotland
Business development consultant for Orion Energy Centre.

Ongoing development of business plan and new R&D programmes for facility. Project support and proposal writing. Clients include MRCF, Resolute Marine, and Scottish Enterprise cabling project. Worked on Oceaneranet and Catapult proposals. Co-wrote proposal for ESBI West wave Project (OEC selected as top-tier marine expert). Establishing links with Universities.

Aug 06-Sept 13 - AWS Ocean Energy, Inverness, Scotland

From April 11 - Chief Technology Officer

Responsible for all research & development activities. Managing a team of +10 engineers and technicians. Team specialities included advanced CAE and model testing. A key focus has been to demonstrate the long-term performance potential of AWS Ocean Energy (AWS) technology via a programme of physical and numerical modelling. Led large-scale model testing campaigns at MARIN (www.MARIN.nl), Netherlands (170m x 40m wave tank) and smaller scale testing at Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt University.

Development of proprietary and 3rd party numerical models for the validation of physical models.  Other aspects of the work include metocean & marine operation studies, survivability testing, advanced mooring and foundation design and parametric cost modelling. IP development and participation in key Joint Industry Projects (JIPs). Management of external contracts. A key part of my work has included working closely Alstom - principal investor and OEM.

In addition to role as CTO I also managed on-going site development activities including: liaison with SSE Renewables and Alstom for Costa Head Wave Farm project; managed all consenting work which resulted in agreement for lease (AfL) from The Crown Estates for AWS test device and mooring footprint. Member of Scottish renewables forum (SRF) marine group.

 

From Aug 08 - Head of Marine Projects

Responsible for all aspects of marine operations and project development.

Developed advanced mooring solutions for marine renewables (Orcaflex). Responsible for the development of marine operation and intervention strategies. Ongoing management of project and site development activities.

Example projects:

10th scale prototype project – responsible for:  mooring design, procurement and installation; marine operations; wave resource measurement and site consenting.

Management of TSB [Technology Strategy Board] funded project, for the assessment and optimisation of device performance, station keeping and survivability. Project based at University of Strathclyde wave tank. Responsible for fund raising, project initiation, and delivery. Project value ~£500K.

Member of the steering committee for Carbon Trust and industry funded JIP - formed to develop advancement of synthetic mooring and anchoring systems for the economical station-keeping of marine renewable systems.

 

From Aug 06 - Project Development Manager

Responsible for all aspects of project development - from project creation to delivery. Developing and securing new sites for deployment of wave power systems in Scotland and the Iberian Peninsula. Aspects of work include business development, contracts management, site assessment & surveys, resource studies, power production modelling and prediction, economic projections, environmental impact assessment, managing consenting process and liaison with stakeholders.

Example of consultancy services initiated and delivered while working for AWS Ocean Energy:

• Technical constraints study for Scottish & Southern Energy to support successful developer application as part of Crown Estate leasing round for the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters. Involved running Orcaflex models to establish array densities for range of machine sizes. 2009

• Shell UK - Investigating niche wave power applications for oil industry. 2008

• Study for the Government of Asturias, Spain. “Wave power site selection and feasibility study for Asturias”, based on a GIS approach. 2007

Represent AWS at marine industry and trade body level [SRF]. Created and supported a number of new initiatives with leading Universities.

 

Aug 03 - Aug 06 - SeWave, Torshavn, Faroes.
Director of Joint Venture Company between Wavegen & SEV (Faroese Utility.

Completed 15 month Front End Engineering Design phase for 500kW tunnelled wave power plant. Responsibilities as part of Faroese management group involved: company formation, board meetings, contractual negotiations, legal obligations, public relations, funding, engineering management and market analysis. £2M raised from EU and oil companies (ENI & BP).

 

Nov 92 - Aug 06 - Wavegen (a Voith Hydro company), Inverness

From 98 Marine Projects Manager.

Development of Wave Power Plants & Projects.

Management of R&D programme in state-of-the-art wave tank facility.

    - design & commissioning of facility - recruitment, team building and training

    - manager for team of engineers

    - product development & engineering studies for wave power devices

    - tested most forms of fixed & floating wave energy systems.

Simulation & measurement of scale model performance in ocean environments

     - estimation of power production, structural loads, stability & motion response

     - testing of fixed & floating devices for towing, installation, operation & survival

     - associated engineering studies, numerical models and mooring analyses

     - instrument calibration and data acquisition.

 

From 92 - Management of site selection, investigation & development

     - co-ordination of hydrographic, geological & dive surveys

     - wave resource assessment & metocean studies

     - deployment, operation and data analysis for wave data buoys

     - consents process for lease of seabed & navigation

     - commissioning of environmental assessments

     - liaison with local stakeholders

     - tank testing for range of fixed and floating devices

     - part of engineering team for OSPREY, Limpet, Mutriku and Siader projects.

 

95 - 96 - Management & planning of major marine operation on exposed Atlantic location for OSPREY near-shore wave power plant (offshore Dounreay).

      - working on diving & survey vessels, multi-cats, tugs & jack-ups as client rep.

      - project manager and client representative for tow-out, placement & salvage.

 

MARINE CONSERVATION (1 year)

Nov 96 - Nov 97 - Galapagos National Park Service & Charles Darwin Research Station

Volunteer. Sabbatical based in Galapagos Islands. On behalf of Charles Darwin Research Station, initiated and co-designed multi-national research programme into conservation & conflict resolution (proposal received A1 rating from EU and ~400K euros funding).  I introduced ICIT Orkney to this project, which directly led to long term research collaboration and researcher interchanges between both countries. Other work: Diving surveys, monitoring local fish catch. Designed, published educational material.

 

OIL INDUSTRY (+3 years)

Jul 89 Oct 91 - Noble Denton Europe, London
Project Engineer / Naval Architect

Responsible for a wide range of engineering studies relating to offshore operations, drilling and ocean transportation for the oil industry - including mooring, stability, motion response and structural analyses for design and warranty. Working knowledge of offshore design codes.

May 88 - Apr 89 - SARB Marine Offshore Surveys, Aberdeen

Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Pilot conducting sub-sea surveys from diver support vessels and semi-submersibles for a number of projects in the North Sea. Work included maintenance, co-ordination of sub-sea work, structural & marine growth surveys and diver observation.

 

EDUCATION

Oct 91 - Oct 92 - Institute of Offshore Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh/Orkney

Master of Science Degree (MSc) in Marine Resource Development & Protection.
Health & Safety Executive (Part IV) - Professional Scientific Diving Qualification.

Sep 84- May - 88  - Southampton Institute, Southampton

Engineering council part 2 exams in Naval Architecture (level: BEng Honours)
Higher National Diploma in Naval Architecture.

Other relevant education

Dec 95 - Mar 96 - Instituto Superior de Español, Quito, Ecuador

Advanced Diploma in Spanish, while living with an Ecuadorian family.

 

[April 2016]