News on Wave Hub

Good news, I think.

The closure of the South West Regional Development Agency could have put at risk the future of the Wave Hub project.
Now, the UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills (i.e.: the UK goverment) has stepped in and taken over ownership of the Wavehub assests and project.
The actual operations will be run by a new company: Wave Hub Limited, based in Cornwall.

It looks like a sign of UK government commitment to the development of marine energy conversion technologies.

Reference: Ocean Power Magazine .net

 

List of recent licences awarded by UK Crown Estate for either wave or tidal energy sites development

The Crown Estate owns the majority of the seabed within a 12 nautical mile limit of UK territorial waters

The Crown Estate’s most recent licensees for either wave or tidal energy sites are:

• DP Marine Energy Limited (tidal site at Isle of Islay)
• Glaxo Operations UK Limited (tidal site at Esk Estuary)
• Pelamis Wave Power Limited (wave site at Isle of Lewis)
• Sea Generation (Wales) Limited (tidal site at Skerries)
• AWS Ocean Energy Limited (wave site at Burghead)
• Minesto UK Limited (tidal site at Strangford Lough)
• Argyll Tidal Limited (tidal site at Mull of Kintyre)
• Nova Innovation Limited (tidal site at Bluemull Sound)
• Oceanflow Development Limited (tidal site at Sanda Sound)

Reference: RenewableEnergyWorld.com

OWC wave power plant by Voith Hydro Wavegen at Mutriku (Spain) now in full operation

The Voith Hydro Wavegen OWC wave power plant is housed within a newly built breakwater and was inaugurated in July this year.

After completing all commissioning and acceptance testing (and producing 100MWh in the process) it has now “been suppied with standard commercial guarantees for performance and availability” and connected to the Spanish power grid.

The 300kW plant consists of 16 turbines and “it has been designed for a 25 year operational life”.

This is a massive milestone for the wave energy sector as this is the first wave power plant supplied with standard commercial guarantees of performance and availability.
Ref: Ocean Power Magazine

ABS moves a step closer to OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion) certification for the OTI design

From the October 2011 issue of (IMarEST) Marine Engineering Review:

American Bureau of shipping (ABS) class society has issued AIP (Approval in Principle) for the version of the ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) system developed by the company OTEC International LLC.

Key elements evaluated by ABS include: spar hull sizing for the deep draft spar design; energy conversion equipment located in the spar; handling and storage of hazardous materials; deepwater mooring system; cold water pipe conduit suspended from the base of the spar; construction and attachment of the cold water pipe conduit; and power transmission cable with its securing, anchoring and suspension arrangements. ABS reviewed the design for an extended 30-year facility on-station life.

ABS has issued Approval in Principle for both the 25MW and 100MW designs; OTI could be eligible for ABS’ class notation A1, Floating Offshore Installation (FOI) Spar, SFA(30).

ABS news release

Some more information is available on the OTI site

I consider the involvement of a classification society very good news.

In effect a confirmation from a third party that the technology is fundamentally sound.

Quite a fundamental requirement if we want this to eventually become a commercial success, right?

In our blog we previously covered some other OTEC projects here:

Nov2008, Aug2009, Dec2010, Sep2011

 

Work in progress to assess the possibility of deploying CoRMaT tidal stream device in the Irish Sea

Environmental assessment work has recently started off the Mull of Kintyre (west Scotland).
The plan is to deploy up to 6 x 500 kW CoRMaT (contra-rotating marine turbines) devices designed by Nautricity ltd.
No timescale is given in the press release.
This is the second project announced this year by Nautricity after the announcement, earlier this year, of the plan to install a similar device in the Thames, alongside HQS Wellington in central London.

Reference: Nautricity site

Langlee Wave Power new mooring system announcement

Langlee announces a new design for the mooring of arrays of their WEC devices that follows their declared “simple design – easy maintenance” strategy. They indicate it to be based on technology and design currently used in fish farming.

Have not seen any further detail yet, but I think this could be an interesting development.

Also of interest the fact that the announcement was made at the Latin America Marine energy conference in Santiago (Chile). Sounds like the conference was well attended by some of the bigger players in the wave energy conversion sector. Reasonable to expect some important developments occurring in Chile and some other Latin American countries in the very near future

Extracts from Langlee Wave Power news release:

Norwegian renewable energy firm Langlee Wave Power has developed a new mooring system based on proven fish farm technology to drive down supply chain costs.

The mooring system is set to deliver efficiency savings for Langlee’s 50 kW E1 Wave Energy Converter and allow easy installation of a linked array of multiple units which can provide several megawatts of power.

[…] Fish farming has a 30 year track record with similar components that we can adapt for wave energy, but one fifth of the costs compared to the oil and gas sector. The mooring system can be easily installed, leaving an array to be filled with the required number of E1 units which are connected by four mooring lines.

[… further benefits include easier/cheaper maintenance procedures as …] we can simply de-ballast the hull, bringing the whole system to the surface where it can be maintained on a barge without disconnecting the cable or mooring lines. This delivers further cost savings to other wave technologies by eliminating the need to tow to shore or use divers or remotely operated vehicles.”

Reference: Langlee Wave Power

Plans for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plants in the Bahamas

Ocean Power Magazine article about plans to develop ocean thermal energy conversion plants in the Bahamas

” Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation (OTE Corp.) and Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further the development of two ocean thermal energy conversion plants in The Bahamas in concert with BEC’s strong policy to promote renewable energy resources in The Bahamas to maximize Bahamian energy independence and environmental benefits.”

Admittedly the tone of the article is rather optimistic, including: “With the signed MoU, OTE Corporation will immediately move forward with BEC to complete the design process which is expected to culminate with the company building, owning and operating the world’s first two commercially viable OTEC plants that produce fossil-fuel free electricity, potable water and sustainable food production in the form of aquaculture, mariculture and chilled soil agriculture.“

I wonder how long it will take to achieve all this. But nevertheless, an interesting project to watch.

References:

• Ocean Power Magazine
• Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation

Atlantis AK-1000 tidal turbine is connected to grid and generating power

I saw this today on the Ocean Power Magazine site.

Few extracts:

[The Atlantis tidal turbine] “…went into operation at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland last week. The 1MW device was developed by Atlantis Resources Corporation […]” [it is] “…standing 73 feet off the seabed with an 18 metre rotor diameter”

[…]”The AK-1000 turbine is a Horizontal Axis Turbine (HAT) designed for open ocean deployment in the harshest environments on the planet. Atlantis AK series turbines feature a unique twin rotor set with fixed pitch blades eliminating the requirement for sub-sea nacelle rotation to improve operational reliability. […]”

 

References: Atlantis Resources Corporation, Ocean Power Magazine

Voith Hydro Wavegen projects

Voith Hydro Wavegen: The wave energy specialists within the Voith-Siemens joint venture. They run the Islay LIMPET 500 plant and are certainly among the world top specialists in oscillating water column (OWC) technology

We heard some good news few weeks ago… we heard some bad news few days ago.

Lets start with the good news.

Wave power plant inaugurated at Mutrik on the Spanish Atlantic coast.

Commissioned by the Basque Energy Board, uses Wavegen breakwater technology, rated 300kW.

It looks like this:

Now the bad news:

RWE npower Renewables have pulled out from the Siadar Wave Energy Project, the 4MW plant under construction on the isle of Lewis and north Harris.

Sounds like RWE prefers to focus on tidal stream technologies.

However, for the moment Voith Hydro is still on the SWEP project. They say that discussions are on going with possible partners.

Fingers crossed

Alstom enters the wave energy sector and says that wave energy outlook is good

Alstom, the French energy (and transport) company, announced the acquisition of 40% shares of AWS Ocean Energy (the rest is own by Shell and Scottish Investment Bank).

The company is already active in the marine energy conversion sector with a tidal project (the Beluga 9) and offshore wind.

The company announcement included statements of confidence in the viability of both the AWS-III WEC device currently being developed and the overall wave energy sector.

 

References:

http://www.alstom.com/power/news-and-events/press-release/ocean-energy-alstom-broadens-involvement-marine-energy-acquiring-40-percent-equity-share-aws-ocean-energy/

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE75N15L20110624