Maritime Journal: Deep Green flies kite for tidal energy

Deep Green flies kite for tidal energy

09 Dec 2009

As political leaders gather in Copenhagen this week for COP 15 United Nations Climate Change, Saab spin-off Minesto has revealed another step towards tidal energy commercialisation by producing electricity with the Deep Green concept. Minesto is a Swedish and UK based company founded in 2007, with majority owners including the Saab Group, Midroc New Technology, Verdane Capital and Chalmers University of Technology.

Minesto’s Deep Green tidal technology relies on ‘kites’ tethered to the seabed.

COP 15 aims to reach consensus on a global climate agreement beyond the Kyoto Protocol running until 2012. In order to achieve a sustainable future and implement the transformation of energy systems, technologies advancing now are crucial. A video released by Minesto shows a demonstration power plant in generation mode. Predictable and carbon neutral electricity from tidal and ocean currents will be a keystone for the renewables mix in many countries in order to reach the 2020 target of 20% of energy from renewable sources.

The theoretical models, simulations and previous model tests have proven the power plant’s ability to utilize unexplored resources in the form of low velocity tidal currents. However the practical testing of actual electricity production pushes the boundaries of existing knowledge even further ahead.Following the successful demonstration, development of the technology is continuing to the next stage, deployment of a prototype off the coast of Northern Ireland in 2011. The long term goal of contributing to the future energy system seems more likely than ever and expert assessments of the role that marine energy technology will play in the future verifies that Minesto is moving in the right direction.

A report commissioned by the British Wind Energy Association (The Benefits of Marine Technologies Within a Diversified Renewables Mix) stated that an approximate optimal mix between marine technologies and wind power in the future UK power system would gain from having a 40/60 ratio in order to reduce the cost of backup systems, reserve capacity, fuel cost and CO2 emissions and to avoid redundant investments in over capacity of renewables. The extent of cost reductions from optimal energy mixture totalled €1bn per year compared to the sole use of wind power, according to the report.

Tidal energy technologies possess the advantage of being able to deliver a predictable and continuous flow of electricity to the grid regardless of whether conditions are windy or sunny. Tidal energy will not cause unexpected and sudden variations which eventually wear out transmission devices and cables. This suggests that tidal technologies can complement wind, increasing the cost effectiveness of variable renewables and ultimately expanding the potential share for renewables in the overall generation mix. By combining different technologies the result is a more stable system with higher reliability and lower cost. Tidal energy is estimated to reach a 10 to15% contribution to the energy mix.

Deep Green technology can contribute significantly to this as it can use slow water currents in areas where no other technologies can operate cost efficiently. The Deep Green concept opens up entirely new areas for electricity production from the seas. In the UK, the estimated power from tides increases from around 22 TWh to 40 TWh annually which corresponds to 3.8m additional households.

Deep Green technology can be best explained as a two stage process. The first stage increases the relative flow speed entering a turbine. When the tide hits the wing it creates a lift force. Since the kite is secured to the ocean bed with a tether and is controlled by a rudder, the kite can be placed in the desired trajectory. This method brings about a tenfold increase in the flow velocity into the turbine compared to actual stream velocity. The second stage uses a generator to convert kinetic energy into electrical power.

The net result is increased power from a smaller package. The planned normal full size unit weighs only 7 tons excluding anchoring, which gives an energy payback time of 3 weeks, compared to 8 months for onshore wind power.

minesto.com

via Maritime Journal: Deep Green flies kite for tidal energy.

Ocean Power Technologies Selects Oregon Iron Works to Build Wave Energy Project – Renewable Energy World

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. has chosen Oregon Iron Works to construct its first commercial wave energy PowerBuoy system in North America.

The system will be installed off the Oregon coast near Reedsport, and it will represent the first phase of an expected 10-PowerBuoy Reedsport wave power station with a generating capacity of about 1.5 MW.

Nine additional PowerBuoys will be constructed and installed under the second phase of the project.

Ocean Power Technologies and Oregon Iron Works estimate that construction of the first PowerBuoy PB150 wave energy device, rated at 150 KW, will create or sustain about 30 jobs over the next nine months.

“Our workers are helping the Pacific Northwest become the center of excellence in green tech/clean tech manufacturing, and we are proud to continue that tradition of leadership in American manufacturing by building the world’s best renewable ocean energy devices for OPT,” said Terry Aarnio, chairman of Oregon Iron Works.

Mark Draper, CEO of Ocean Power Technologies, said Oregon state leaders have helped to promote green technologies and to make use of Oregon’s wave energy potential.

The Oregon coast, Draper said, is “One of the world’s top sources for future wave energy development.”

Ocean Power Technologies plans to complete its first PB150 wave energy device in the UK for deployment in Scotland in mid 2010.

Ocean Power Technologies recently received an A$66.5 million (US$61 million) grant from the Australian government to build a 19-MW wave power project off the coast of Victoria, Australia (HydroWorld 12/4/09)

via Ocean Power Technologies Selects Oregon Iron Works to Build Wave Energy Project – Renewable Energy World.

One of the UK’s first commercial wave power stations is one step closer ¦ VolkerStevin

19/11/2009
RWE npower renewables has announced the appointment of a preferred contractor for the ground breaking Siadar Wave Energy Project on the Isle of Lewis.

This will be the first commercial scale scheme in the UK generating ‘clean’ electricity created through wave energy.   The project is expected to produce four megawatts of electricity – enough energy to meet the annual needs of around 1500 homes^FN1.  

It is anticipated that the Siadar Wave Energy Project, which will use Voith Hydro Wavegen’s Oscillating Water Column technology, could lead to further similar schemes and be part of the birth of a new industry in the Western Isles and the rest of the UK.

Marine specialist VolkerStevin Marine, in a joint venture with Westminster Dredging, has been awarded preferred contractor status for the design and construction contract for the wave energy power scheme.  The project team, working alongside RWE npower renewables and Voith Hydro Wavegen, is currently undertaking a feasibility study looking at the construction design and viability with the aim of fabrication works starting in 2010.

Speaking about the multimillion pound contract, John Lovell at VolkerStevin Marine, said: “This is an exciting time for renewable energy development in the UK.  The first commercially viable wave energy power project has been long awaited and we are pleased to be working with RWE npower renewables and Voith Hydro Wavegen to make this become a reality.

“We still have work to do on the design and construction of the project in terms of its continued viability and the engineering techniques required, but we are confident we can produce a scheme for our client that could be functional by 2012.”

Chris Pasteur Development & Construction Manager at RWE npower renewables, said: “The Siadar Wave Energy Project has the potential to put the UK at the forefront of the world’s wave energy industry.  The combined skills and expertise of our preferred contractors VolkerStevin Marine and Westminster Dredging will be a major asset to the development of the project which was granted planning consent by the Scottish Government earlier this year. 

He added:  “Having received planning consent and appointed our preferred contractors we are now ready to start construction.  However prior to this we require the Scottish Government’s decision on funding which is critical to ensuring the project’s future success.” 

Local businesses are expected to benefit from the planned 18 month construction period and longer term, from the improvments to sea access. The project has the potential to create around 50 direct jobs during the construction phase which will also support other businesses to the benefit of the Western Isles economy. 

 

Notes

The near shore structure to house the wave powered turbines would involve the construction of a concrete breakwater structure.  This would be built in sections (approximately 50 metres in length) in a dry dock, before being floated out to the site and immersed on the prepared seabed.

 Foot Note 1 (FN1)

It is estimated that the Siadar Wave Energy Project will produce approximately 8,000 MWh per year based on an assumed capacity of 4.0 MW.  This is enough electricity to supply the average annual electricity needs of around 1,500 UK homes,  equal to a fifth of all homes on Lewis and Harris, each year.  This is based on the UK average domestic electricity consumption of approximately 4,700 kWh over the life of the project.  This figure may change as average domestic consumption changes. 

via VolkerStevin.co.uk

Osmotic power plant opens, with commercial scale ambitions ¦ CleanTech.com

November 24, 2009 – by Lisa Sibley, Cleantech Group

Statkraft says a pilot facility that uses saltwater and freshwater to generate power could mark a next new source of renewable energy.

The world’s first osmotic power plant opened today at Tofte, outside of Oslo. And it included a royal kickoff from the Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, who pushed the button that set the turbines in motion.

The plant has been developed over the past year by Norwegian state-owned electricity company Statkraft, its Head of Osmotic Power Stein Erik Skilhagan told the Cleantech Group today. It generates power from energy retrieved from the difference in the salt concentration between seawater and river water.

Skilhagan said today marks a milestone on the path to realizing “a new source of renewable energy.”

Environmental experts and those in attendance, including Norway’s Minister of Oil and Energy Terje Riis-Johansen, toured the facility and held a series of discussions about the plant’s potential and how it could be improved.

With the technology, saltwater and freshwater are funneled into separate chambers, divided by an artificial semi-permeable membrane, according to Statkraft. The salt molecules in the seawater pull the freshwater through the membrane, increasing pressure on the seawater side.

The pressure comes in the form of a 120-meter water column or waterfall that can be utilized in a power generating turbine (see Osmotic power plant to receive royal debut in Norway).

In theory, osmotic power plants can be located wherever rivers meet the sea, and with Norway’s fjords there are plenty of possibilities. The plants are quiet and can be integrated into existing industrial zones, such as the basements of industrial buildings, the company said.

The prototype, which has been developed in cooperation with research and development organizations from various countries, is to be used for testing and development. Statkraft eventually expects to construct a commercial scale plant, Skilhagan said.

The concept of osmotic power has long been understood, but is only now reaching viability. In the past, it has consumed too much energy for the process to be feasible at larger volumes.

However, the energy consumption at the Tofte site is being reduced because of technology from San Leandro, Calif.-based Energy Recovery (Nasdaq:ERII), Skilhagan said.

Energy Recovery’s Pressure Exchanger energy recovery devices aim to reduce the energy costs of the osmotic power process by up to 60 percent, Statkraft said.

The Pressure Exchanger technology is currently being used in seawater reverse osmosis desalination systems worldwide, where Energy Recovery says it is helping to bring down costs (see Energy Recovery launches new desal tech at IDA World Congress and Energy Recovery tech slated for new Australian desal plant). 

Energy Recovery’s Chief Technology Officer Rick Stover said two of its PX-240 units, which are suitable for the brackish water market, have been deployed at the Tofte site and were essentially donated.

“Without the PX device, the osmotic power process does not work, meaning you consume more energy than you produce, with the way Statkraft has configured it with seawater and river water,” Stover said.

Similar to Energy Recovery’s PX-300 units, the PX-240 is made to perform with high efficiencies at low pressures. The company hasn’t sold many PX-240s, but is close to closing a couple deals in the United States, Stover said.  

Statkraft said the global potential of osmotic power is estimated at 1,600-1,700 terrawatt hours per year, or the same as 50 percent of the European Union’s total power production.

“It’s really ideal cleantech,” Stover said. “And it’s because the plant operations will produce no carbon, and it’s a renewable energy source. But what’s even better is that unlike wind, solar, or wave power even, it’s a continuous source of energy. It can supply baseload.”

Skilhagan said the new prototype is designed to produce 10 kilowatts, but is currently producing only about 2 kilowatts.

“Today, we have shot the starting gun,” he said. “We need to show significant improvement and scale up in the next few years.”

Statkraft has ambitious plans for a scaled up version of its technology, at 25 megawatts by 2015. This could include hundreds of Energy Recovery devices, although Stover said his company isn’t counting its chickens before they hatch because the membrane aspect of the technology is outside of his company’s control. 

It’s also not going to happen without participation from various stakeholders, including industry suppliers, utilities, and government entities, Skilhagan said. He said system suppliers and those in the membrane industry have the potential to benefit.

“We need stronger movement from them than we have seen so far,” he said.

He also said the plant’s current membrane technology is producing 60 percent of Statkraft’s target volumes. The company is working on how to generate the same or better results with larger manufacturing volumes.

There have been several utilities eager to participate and learn from Statkraft, from the United States, Europe, and elsewhere in the world, he said, without disclosing which ones.

He also suggested that government agencies need to treat osmotic power like other marine technologies and back it accordingly. The governments of Norway and the EU have contributed about $10 million to the project to date, with another $20 million coming from Statkraft, which includes research of osmotic power. The plant itself cost about $7 million to $8 million.

Statkraft also develops and generates hydropower, wind power, marine energy, solar power, and other energy solutions (see Statkraft, SCA to build 2.8TWh of wind and Statkraft takes stake in Arise Windpower). Statkraft had €3.1 billion ($4.5 billion) in gross operating revenue for 2008.

via Cleantech.com

Oyster device switched on after generating £1m for Orkney ¦ New Energy Focus

Oyster device switched on after generating £1m for Orkney Friday 20 November 2009

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond switched on the Oyster wave device today Aquamarine Power’s ‘Oyster’ wave energy device has been switched on today (November 20) after it was revealed to have generated more than £1 million for the Orkney economy through development expenditure.

First Minister for Scotland Alex Salmond turned on the 500kW wave power convertor to be tested at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), which received a boost of £2.5 million in funding from the Scottish government earlier this week (see this NewEnergyFocus.com story). The device has now begun producing electricity by pumping high pressure water to its onshore hydro-electric turbine. This electricity will be fed into the National Grid to power homes in Orkney and beyond. It is claimed that a farm of 20 Oysters would provide enough energy to power 9,000 three bedroom family homes.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Salmond said: “I’m delighted to see first-hand the full-scale Oyster now installed and operating offshore. This is a key milestone for Aquamarine Power and for Scotland’s marine renewables sector. “Scotland’s potential renewables capacity is estimated to be around 60GW. Our waters hold around ten per cent of Europe’s wave power potential and as much as a quarter of its tidal power potential. The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) provides world-leading test facilities for Aquamarine and other companies to develop the technology needed to harness this huge untapped potential.” He also confirmed further R&D funding of almost £1m to Aquamarine Power for the development of Oyster 2, which could be installed within two years.

Oyster is Edinburgh-based wave energy company Aquamarine Power’s first demonstration-scale wave energy device. Its performance will now be monitored and the results from the testing will provide a basis for the design of the next-generation commercial-scale Oyster. It is designed to capture the energy found in nearshore waves in water depths between 10 and 16 metres. The device was first put into the water at EMEC’s Billia Croo wave testing site in August 2009. Economy boost Figures released by Aquamarine Power this week (November 19) show that the installation of the Oyster device involved more than 30 local companies ranging from engineering and construction contractors to environmental consultancies, diving and vessel hire, event organisers and photographers. It is claimed that the actual expenditure on local contractors and suppliers came to more than £1 million. In addition, the company had seven staff working full-time in Orkney during the installation of the device.

Chief executive officer of Aquamarine Power, Martin McAdam, said: “Our figures demonstrate the positive impact that wave energy can have on the Orkney economy. “A successful Oyster project would unlock £3-4 million of capital expenditure per MW installed, of which a significant proportion would be invested in the Orkney economy. A commercial wave farm could therefore represent a significant boost to the local economy and would provide long-term skilled jobs for local residents.” He also claimed that ongoing operation and maintenance would generate a further £150,000 per annum to the local economy. Convener of Orkney Islands council, Stephen Hagan, said: “Orkney’s efforts to support the development of marine renewables in Scotland has been further rewarded with the successful installation of Aquamarine Power’s Oyster device. The skills and experience developing in the county will help ensure that Orkney remains at the forefront of renewable energy developments into the future. “We remain committed to supporting this sector and ensuring that Orkney can put forward the best it has to offer, to optimise further growth and expansion in the industry.”

via: NewEnergyFocus

Germany completes its first large offshore wind farm – Renewable Energy Focus

Germany completes its first large offshore wind farm

19 November 2009

A consortium has installed 12 large wind turbines in the North Sea, to complete Germany’s first offshore wind farm alpha ventus.

The facility, alpha ventus, was built by EWE, E.ON and Vattenfall in the consortium DOTI (Deutsche Offshore-Testfeld- und Infrastruktur Gesellschaft GmbH) at a cost of €250 million. All 12 wind turbine units were installed in less than 7 months, and 6 of the wind turbines are already being test-run and have generated 13 million kWh of wind power.

The wind farm, sited 45 km north of Borkum island in the North Sea, is the world’s first offshore wind park that uses a dozen 5 MW wind turbines. At full operation, alpha ventus will generate sufficient electricity for 50,000 homes.

“With the building of alpha ventus, our three companies have shown that offshore wind energy is technically feasible in Germany, even under considerably difficult conditions,” says project director Wilfried Hube of EWE. “The construction of 12 5 MW wind turbines 45 km from the shore in waters 30 m deep, is a true piece of pioneering achievement and is the first of its kind worldwide.”

The offshore wind farm project relied on the experience of other offshore installations, but the harsh conditions of the North Sea provided a true test for the feasibility of offshore wind power in Germany and is a remarkable logistical achievement, the consortium notes. Initial difficulties with construction vessels in 2008 prompted them to select more suitable equipment this year.

“We learned that the construction process and the employed logistics must be very well attuned with one another in order to be build effectively,” adds Oliver Funk of Vattenfall. “In this regard, we faced a very steep learning curve.”

During peak construction this summer, 350 people and 25 ships were simultaneously at work on the offshore wind farm site. The vessels included three new jack-up barges that arrived at alpha ventus almost directly from their shipyard, as well as Thialf, the largest crane ship in the world that installed the jacket foundations for the REpower wind turbines in 6 days.

The construction of alpha ventus was more complex than other offshore wind farms, which have been built outside Germany. Two types of German-manufactured wind turbines were built on two different types of foundations using various construction concepts and “construction has provided us with valuable information for future offshore projects,” says Ralf Lamsbach of E.ON.

The six Areva Multibrid M5000 wind turbines stand on tripods, and feature a rotor diameter of 116 m and hub height of 90 m. They are 178 m total height above the seabed, and weigh 309 t with rotor and hub. So-called ‘jacket’ foundations are used for the REpower wind turbines, which have a rotor diameter of 126 m, hub height of 92 m, 185 m total height above seabed and weigh 410 t.

The second lot of 6 wind turbines will come online by the end of the year. One hundred technicians passed ’helicopter abseil-training’ in Cuxhaven recently, so they can reach the wind turbines from the air if the sea route becomes inaccessible due to inclement weather or high swells.

An internet webcam has been stationed on the FINO1 construction platform showing the progress on the building site, and DOTI is ready to transmit the power to shore. An underwater cable, installed last year by transpower GmbH (formerly E.ON Netz), connects the offshore transformer station to the German power grid.

via Renewable Energy Focus

 

Seven designs for offshore wind turbine foundations are short-listed – Renewable Energy Focus

Seven designs for offshore wind turbine foundations are short-listed

18 November 2009

Seven new designs for offshore wind turbine foundations have been short-listed for funding by the Carbon Trust in Britain.

The offshore wind turbine foundation designs are aimed at reducing the high costs associated with installing offshore wind turbines, where deepwater foundations comprise at least 20% of total project costs, says the Carbon Trust. Offshore wind currently costs £3 million a megawatt as many of the sites which are being tendered for development are farther from shore in deep water and in treacherous conditions.

More than 100 engineering companies from around the world submitted ideas on how to cost-effectively build offshore wind turbines in severe weather conditions as far as 100 miles out to sea and in waters up to 60 m deep. Each design was assessed by an expert panel of judges including Carbon Trust partners Airtricity Developments, DONG Energy, RWE Innogy (owner of Npower Renewables), Scottish Power Renewables and Statoil.

The entries were selected based on manufacturing costs, transport and installation costs, potential for volume cost savings, structural design and durability, maintainability and turbine accessibility, and decommissioning and removal costs.

Each of the 7 offshore wind turbine foundation designs will receive £100,000 support for concept development, engineering analysis, commercial feasibility and technical assistance. A final three winners will have their designs built and installed in large-scale demonstration projects in 2010-2012 with funding from a consortium led by the Carbon Trust.

“Building thousands of turbines offshore to provide a quarter of our power needs is the greatest engineering challenge we face in the coming decade,” says Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust. “Without new thinking to cut costs many planned projects could remain on the drawing board putting our carbon targets and energy security at risk. We must urgently re-engineer our energy system and building offshore wind farms while creating onshore jobs must play a central role.”

Latest figures from the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) show that UK wind energy has reached 4000 MW of installed capacity, of which 600 MW is offshore. The 7 offshore wind turbine foundation designs have the potential to revolutionise the construction of offshore wind farms, reducing costs and overcoming engineering challenges, with some of the radical concepts including floating turbines anchored to the sea bed and spider-like tripod structures.

“Offshore wind energy generation is starting to mature and, as the landowner of the seabed, The Crown Estate welcomes this competition and hopes that these new designs reduce capital and investment costs required to deliver offshore wind as an alternative, secure energy supply,” says Rob Hastings of The Crown Estate. “This is another step towards the successful delivery of 40 GW by 2020 that industry has put on the table.”

The offshore wind industry is vital to meet the 2020 renewable energy target and has the potential to generate £65 billion of net economic value and 220,000 jobs for the UK by 2050.

Britain wants to install 6000 offshore wind turbines to allow offshore wind to meet one quarter of the country’s electricity needs by 2020. The current price tag is £75 billion, with deep water foundations accounting for 20% of total project costs. The goal of the new designs is to reduce current costs of foundations by at least one quarter, which will save billions of pounds and enable the industry to deploy turbines in deeper and rougher sea conditions that will be experienced by the significantly larger offshore wind projects beginning in 2012 as part of the Crown Estate’s third round of licensing.

While the UK needs 6000 new offshore foundations by 2020, the global number of offshore wind turbines will reach 15,000, a global market for offshore wind turbine foundations worth £2.5bn a year, which shows clear market potential for the winning designs.

via RenewableEnergyFocus

New algae research promises steady streams of hydrogen | Cleantech Group

University of Tennessee study isolates the inner machinery of photosynthesis in order to create large amounts of fuel using less energy and time.

Researchers from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory said today they found a way to unlock algae's massive potential to produce hydrogen for use in vehicles.

While algae naturally emit a small amount of hydrogen during photosynthesis, the researchers say their process increases the speed and efficiency of the process.

The scientists said they isolated the inner machinery of photosynthesis within thermophilic blue-green algae. The researchers then added a platinum catalyst and exposed the combination to light.

The experiment produced a steady stream of clean hydrogen, the researchers said in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Most importantly, the researchers found that the reaction was sustainable at 55 degrees Celsius (131 degrees Fahrenheit), which is the approximate temperature the algae would face in the desert, where the high solar irradiation would make the process the most productive. The researchers said the process was 10 times more efficient when the temperature increased.

The researchers aren't alone in experimenting with algae to produce hydrogen. Last month, the international Solar Biofuels Consortium shared information about its genetic modifications to algae that enabled the production of significant amounts of 90-percent pure hydrogen (see World not yet ready for super algae).

The UT team was led by Barry Bruce, a professor of biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology at UT Knoxville, and the associate director for the school's Sustainable Energy and Education Research Center.

The process finds the most efficient use for plants in transportation fuel, Bruce said in a news release. Plants grow and die, eventually becoming fossil fuel. Alternately, plants are harvested for biofuel production. Either process takes more time and energy than using the plant to directly create fuel, Bruce said.

“Biofuel as many people think of it now—harvesting plants and converting their woody material into sugars which get distilled into combustible liquids—probably cannot replace gasoline as a major source of fuel,” Bruce said in a news release. “We found that our process is more direct and has the potential to create a much larger quantity of fuel using much less energy, which has a wide range of benefits.”

via New algae research promises steady streams of hydrogen | Cleantech Group.

Ocean Power Magazine » The HydroWing by SeaKinetics

The HydroWing by SeaKinetics

SeaKinetics has developed an innovative, tethered tidal and marine current energy converter known as the HydroWing, for the purpose of generating renewable, zero carbon emission energy. The device is patented, and has been developed in an iterative process over five years.

The HydroWing is a marine current turbine power system which operates anchored, submerged at a variable depth, and is capable of operating in depths of up to 150 meters.

A power station or farm is composed of an array of HydroWings connected to an underwater power substation which acts as their hub to the ground grid link. Each individual HydroWing self-aligns to the flow and can be independently controlled to vary its depth according to the operating program in use.

For stability and balance, each HydroWing is equipped with a hydrofoil lifting surface which counteracts the downward pull created by the mooring cable acting against the drag forces created by the turbines generating power.

 

The key benefits of the HydroWing design concept are:

1.Operates submerged at the most favourable depth in order to harvest an optimal amount of energy from the current.

2.Access to virtually all of the economically significant tidal sites, due to ability to operate in deep waters.

3.High load factors (40%) are feasible due to the controlled depth capability.

4.Operating below the sea surface the HydroWing does not risk being destroyed by storms or wave action as wave loading is negligible.

5.Given a typical operating depth of greater than 30 meters below sea level, the HydroWing Arrays will not present an obstruction or hazard to shipping.

6.Debris including containers, logs and plastic bags tend to either float on the surface or sink. Operating below the surface means not risking these and other very real hazards.

7.The Hybrid Hydrofoil Nozzle technology provides an effective means of achieving the lift that is essential for all submerged moored configurations thus enabling the turbines to operate in an optimal position in the current flow.

8.The Hybrid Hydrofoil Nozzle technology also provides the Diffuser Augmentation action which accelerates water flow through the turbines providing more power per square meter of turbine surface area.

9.The combination of Diffuser Augmentation and optimal placement in the current which is a unique feature of this design allows the HydroWing to operate also in slow current speeds (1.6 m/s TBC) which provides the opportunity to extract industrial quantities of power from ocean currents.

10.High power to turbine size ratio due to the VASAF augmented nozzle configuration leads to low cost of energy.

11.The Navionics package governs the HydroWing via hydroplane control surfaces and ballast trim tanks which provide the required stability and manoeuvrability.

12.A multiplicity of cross-axial turbines are mounted on coupled counter-rotating shafts allowing them to share gearboxes and generators thus substantially reducing costs and simplifying maintenance.

13.This modular system allows for the HydroWing to be scaled up in size to create a power generators potentially larger than horizontal axis turbines systems.

14.The tethered configuration provides self aligning capabilities which considerably simplify the system by eliminating the need for yaw control.

15.As the tidal stream reverses the HydroWing is designed to manoeuvre by drawing power from the grid to operate its turbines. It can thus be brought to its new position in a controlled operation, ensuring that the mooring cables do not get caught up on themselves or on obstacles.

16.The cross-axial configuration adopted by the HydroWing allows for faster shaft speeds thus reducing gearbox size, complexity, and cost. Reliability also increases and thus maintenance costs and downtime are reduced.

17.Ease of deployment and installation.

18.On site maintenance leading to reduced downtime

An actual power plant configuration will be made up of an array of identical HydroWing units sharing the ground-link between national grid and seaside substation, in the same way off shore wind farms are configured.

 

A marine energy farm based on an array of identical elements enables the farm to capture economy of scale in two ways:

1.transmission of power produced through a common ground link;

2.modular construction of array elements.

Elements of the array may differ in minor details, specifically in tether-line length, if the channel depth varies substantially. However, all other aspects are common to all elements.

UK tidal resources have been independently assessed showing that two areas of particular interest are located in Scotland and in the Channel Islands. Both areas are characterized by strong currents and deep waters, ideal conditions for the HydroWing. Several sites are present in both these areas so that further scale economies may be achieved as maintenance infrastructure can by shared among nearby sites.

Source: SeaKinetics

via Ocean Power Magazine » The HydroWing by SeaKinetics.

OPT | Ocean Power Technologies | News Release

Ocean Power Technologies Completes Successful Trials of Underwater Substation Pod

PENNINGTON, N.J., Nov 02, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPTT and London Stock Exchange AIM: OPT) (“OPT” or the “Company”) announces the successful completion of trials of its Underwater Substation Pod #”USP”# product in Spain. The USP, based on the Company’s proprietary design, has been developed to facilitate the collection, networking and transforming of power and data generated by up to ten of its PowerBuoys for transmission to a shore-based electricity grid by one subsea power cable. It has been built as an open platform, and can therefore provide “plug and play” connectivity for any offshore energy device linked to it.

Underwater trials of the USP included pressure testing, running electric power to and from the system, and verification of data communication capabilities.

The completion of this significant milestone by OPT is part of an Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract with Iberdrola Marinas de Cantabria, a special purpose company whose shareholders include:-

Iberdrola S.A., the major Spanish utility company;

Sodercan, the regional development agency for the Cantabria region of northern Spain;

IDAE, the energy agency of the Spanish government; and

Total, the oil and gas company.

OPT believes that the USP is a unique product in the offshore market and creates a potentially new revenue stream for the Company from sales to third parties engaged in marine power development and other offshore activities. Current sources of OPT’s revenues are PowerBuoys designed for utility-scale power generation projects and autonomous applications such as offshore homeland security.

The USP was designed and developed entirely by the Company from concept to manufacture and successful underwater testing. The majority of offshore energy systems generate electricity at low voltage and need to step-up to medium or high voltage for efficient transmission to shore. Additionally, offshore power projects typically have a number of devices (wind turbines, wave energy converters, tidal devices) that need to be networked offshore so that a single subsea cable can export the power and data to the shore. OPT has fully analyzed these requirements and developed its innovative USP to meet these performance demands. In order to minimize the cost and complexity of marine operations, innovative connections and disconnections have also been designed to be undertaken at the sea surface using standard vessels.

Stuart Bower, Engineering and Projects Director of Ocean Power Technologies Limited, who led the development team of this exciting new product, stated: “This project has been a true engineering challenge of converting an idea on a “whiteboard” into reality and demonstrates how the Company’s technical base can be used to create valuable intellectual property. Comparable products used in the offshore oil and gas industry do not have the USP’s advantages for higher power capacity, longer life expectancy, fewer moving parts, a passive cooling system, lower cost per MegaWatt, and the ability to accommodate many power generation devices. We are delighted at the potential value the USP can bring to wave power projects and other offshore energy markets.”

via OPT | Ocean Power Technologies | News Release.