Ben Whitby

Ben works as a Research Engineer for PRIMED (Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery). He holds a Ph.D. from Cardiff University, UK and a M.Eng (Hons) degree in electronic engineering from the University of Exeter, UK. He has a background in renewable energies, power electronics, and power systems. This includes extensive experience in the marine energy sector. Prior to joining PRIMED he spent five years working as a consulting engineer in the offshore renewable energy group for UK based consultancy ITPEnergised. In this role, Ben was primarily responsible for providing technical engineering advisory services to clients and gained significant experience working with early stage marine energy device developers. He also participated in several European Union Funded (FP7) research and development projects, mainly related to offshore wind and marine renewable energy.

His PhD research focused on the control and electromechanical engineering design aspects of axial flow tidal stream turbines. This included investigating power limitation mechanisms and power maximisation control methods, as well as optimising the performance of the turbines electrical power take-off with consideration of overall device operation and impact on Cost of Energy.

In his spare time, he is an avid rugby fan and part-time brewer. He would one day like to open his own brewery.