THE BRYDEN CENTRE
Advanced Marine and Bio-energy research
The Bryden Centre is a €9.4 million cross-border, renewable energy research centre funded by the EU under the Interreg VA programme. Led from Queen’s University Belfast, the Bryden Centre covers the Northern Ireland, Western Scotland and the Irish border regions. Renewable energy represents a major opportunity for this interregional area with many geographic, economic and demographic characteristics that provide a distinctive competitive advantage in a global marketplace.
Bryden Centre research is aimed at harnessing the potential for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland to become leaders in marine renewable energy. The cross-border area is rich in potential and includes tidal power sites at Strangford Lough and the North Antrim Coast, ocean and offshore wind energy sites in Western Scotland, as well as the potential for wave, tidal and offshore wind power generation in Donegal.
Exploiting the strong interregional agri-food sector to support Bioenergy generation is the other key theme to the Bryden Centre. Great opportunities exist to create energy and high-value products from organic waste while drastically reducing pollution with the ultimate prospect of creating a true circular economy and actively farming carbon from the atmosphere.
Research areas
Harnessing the power of the sea
Tidal and wave
Cultivating the power of the land
Gas, liquid and solid bio-fuels
Working with the environment
Assuring that the energy systems we design support the environment.