Redundant oil platforms could be used as hubs for the transmission of wave-generated power
Charlene Sweeney
A new wave-power machine that could generate up to ten times more energy than existing versions may turn out to be “the missing link between industrial-strength power generation and the renewables industry”, according to experts. Just one device may be capable of producing enough electricity to power an entire town.
The invention, the details of which are a closely guarded secret, could also have the answer to redundant North Sea oil platforms. They could be recycled to act as a collection point for wave energy, before being transmitted to centres of demand onshore.
Ecosse Subsea Systems, the Aberdeen-based company developing the technology, claimed that it had the potential to be the renewable industry's first industrial-strength source of power. The company said that the device could be ready in as little as two years.
Mike Wilson, managing director of Ecosse Subsea Systems, said the offshore deepwater system would be similar to a ship moored in areas of high wave energy, such as the North Sea. The machine, which can be built to scale according to the volume of water, will convert wave energy and send it ashore via fixed links.
Mr Wilson claimed that one unit will be able to produce between two and five megawatts of energy - enough to power a town.
The energy output of the device is equivalent to the world's largest and most powerful wind turbines, and about ten times more than current wave devices, most of which generate about 500 kilowatts.
“Our technology relies on large devices producing a large amount of power,” he said. “This technology is not only totally renewable but is also based on current North Sea expertise so will be robust enough to handle harsh environments.”
Scotland is already a global leader in wave technology, with a handful of devices already installed. Limpet, a shoreline system off the coast of Islay, which uses the principle of an oscillating water column, can generate up to 500 kilowatts of energy, and is the world's first commercial sized wave device connected to the grid. Other models are being tested at the European Marine Energy Centre, in Orkney, including Pelamis, a snake-like 180-metre long series of cylindrical segments connected by hinged joints that must be installed in water at least 50 metres deep. Each Pelamis wave converter is capable of generating up to 750 kilowatts of energy.
Despite the advances being made, Mr Wilson believes that his company's equipment could change the face of marine energy by linking the industry to the dying North Sea oil sector.
It was conceivable, he said, that North Sea platforms coming to the end of their life could act as collection points for wave energy produced by their devices. “Decommissioning equipment costs a lot of money so it makes economic sense for oil companies to defer that and make use of the platform instead,” he said.
Servicing the devices, which are expected to last at least 25 years, could also create jobs.
Ecosse Subsea Systems revealed details of the device after winning a £5,000 grant from the Scottish Funding Council to support further research. Alan Owen, a chartered energy engineer at Robert Gordon University's Centre for Research in Energy and the Environment, has started work on a project that incorporates wave tank testing. “We are doing the maths and the physics necessary to produce the wave tank model,” Dr Owen said. “The next stage is to build a small device and test it in a wave tank, then apply for funding to test a commercially sized device.”
The academic explained that one of the main differences between their device and other models is that it will be able to change size according to the size of the waves. “The way a body responds to a wave depends on the size of a body,” he said. “If you think about it, a big oil tanker is not troubled by a small wave.
“What we are looking at is a device that can change its own dimensions depending on the wave approaching it so it can maximise energy and make it safer by protecting it from storms.”
The energy output of the device is equivalent to the world's largest and most powerful wind turbines, and about ten times more than current wave devices, most of which generate about 500 kilowatts.
“Our technology relies on large devices producing a large amount of power,” he said. “This technology is not only totally renewable but is also based on current North Sea expertise so will be robust enough to handle harsh environments.”
Scotland is already a global leader in wave technology, with a handful of devices already installed. Limpet, a shoreline system off the coast of Islay, which uses the principle of an oscillating water column, can generate up to 500 kilowatts of energy, and is the world's first commercial sized wave device connected to the grid. Other models are being tested at the European Marine Energy Centre, in Orkney, including Pelamis, a snake-like 180-metre long series of cylindrical segments connected by hinged joints that must be installed in water at least 50 metres deep. Each Pelamis wave converter is capable of generating up to 750 kilowatts of energy.
Despite the advances being made, Mr Wilson believes that his company's equipment could change the face of marine energy by linking the industry to the dying North Sea oil sector.
It was conceivable, he said, that North Sea platforms coming to the end of their life could act as collection points for wave energy produced by their devices. “Decommissioning equipment costs a lot of money so it makes economic sense for oil companies to defer that and make use of the platform instead,” he said.
Servicing the devices, which are expected to last at least 25 years, could also create jobs.
Ecosse Subsea Systems revealed details of the device after winning a £5,000 grant from the Scottish Funding Council to support further research. Alan Owen, a chartered energy engineer at Robert Gordon University's Centre for Research in Energy and the Environment, has started work on a project that incorporates wave tank testing. “We are doing the maths and the physics necessary to produce the wave tank model,” Dr Owen said. “The next stage is to build a small device and test it in a wave tank, then apply for funding to test a commercially sized device.”
The academic explained that one of the main differences between their device and other models is that it will be able to change size according to the size of the waves. “The way a body responds to a wave depends on the size of a body,” he said. “If you think about it, a big oil tanker is not troubled by a small wave.
“What we are looking at is a device that can change its own dimensions depending on the wave approaching it so it can maximise energy and make it safer by protecting it from storms.”
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