A combination of wave energy and floating wind could soon be used to power oil and gas assets as part of an ambitious project.
Engineering and construction company Black & Veatch has been appointed by Marine Power Systems to help deliver the innovative concept.
The employee-owned firm, which has a base in Glasgow, will help to guide the development of a unique and flexible floating wind and wave energy generation hardware.
Working as an extension of Marine Power Systems’ technical team, Black & Veatch will lead specific elements of the project, providing technical quality assurance and helping identify and manage technical and programme risk.
The role also encompasses quality, health, safety, environment management and supervision.
Robbie Gibson, Black & Veatch’s director for renewable energy in Europe, said: “A single system that simultaneously captures both wave and wind energy is a more consistent renewable ocean energy source, making maximum use of the lease area from a levelised cost of energy perspective and making intermittence less of a challenge.
“This project plays directly to our strengths and our experience in delivering major marine energy and offshore wind projects. Our broader design portfolio encompasses very many complex system configurations with multiple products and multiple technologies.”
Marine Power Systems’ unique and patented platform technology enables optimum local content delivery through a “decentralised logistics model”.
These benefits provide developers maximum flexibility between reducing cost and increasing local economic benefits.
According to Marine Power Systems, the floating platform technology is the only solution of its type that can be configured to harness wind and wave energy.
As well as allowing clean energy to be fed into the grid, the module could also be used to electrify oil and gas platforms.
Graham Foster, chief technology officer at Marine Power Systems, added: “We are continuing to build our best-in-class team here at Marine Power Systems. Our partners and suppliers are very much part of that team and this latest appointment will play a crucial role in providing project and quality assurance. The team at Black & Veatch bring invaluable experience in floating wind and wave energy systems and marine structures, coupled with the ability to manage complex interfaces between them and oversee the pathway towards technology certification.”
Whilst offshore winds in shallow waters have been harnessed by fixed bottom turbines, the wind and wave energy in deep water remains largely un tapped.
That’s despite it representing around 80% of the exploitable energy resources of oceans.
Marine Power Systems is now working on the deployment of a grid connected commercial megawatt scale wind and wave device in northern Spain, as well as the deployment of a pre-commercial scale array at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), Orkney.
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