The developers behind the second stage of the Attenuator Cost of Energy Reduction (ACER 2) wave-energy project have started testing the SeaPower Platform at the FloWave test tank at Edinburgh University, according to project leader 4C Engineering.
Dublin-based Rockall Solutions (
www.rockallsolutions.com), a provider of research and engineering services for the marine renewables industry, is assisting with the trials.
The testing is being done as part of the ACER2 project, which received £700,000 from Wave Energy Scotland to proceed to the second stage of the organisation’s wave technology development programme.
Building on the knowledge gained through the first stage of the ACER project, ACER 2 will continue to develop the Sea Power Platform via simulation and wave-tank test programmes, to investigate and optimise the device geometry and power take-off (PTO) damping strategy for best power capture at a given site.
The Sea Power Platform is a two-body wave energy converter that has been under development since 2008 and is classed as a floating attenuator device with energy extracted via the relative flex motion of the two bodies around a hinged joint.
A PTO system extracts power by damping the flex motion of the device. The project will determine the power extraction capabilities of the device, along with the costs involved in delivering this power at full scale for Scottish and Irish marine locations.