Wave Energy Scotland (WES) has released a concept design for multi-megawatt clusters of wave energy devices which incorporates technology used in floating wind.
WES said the concept aims to reduce the costs associated with mooring individual wave energy converters (WECs).
With the offshore wind sector exploring floating wind developments in deeper waters with larger wave resources, WES said there are opportunities for the two industries to work together.
WES said economic modelling found sharing space, infrastructure, services and supply chains with floating wind can significantly reduce the cost of wave energy.
Additionally, WES said testing at the University of Edinburgh’s FloWave facility showed no significant loss of performance when placing wave energy devices close together.
While using a cluster structure for wave energy will incur extra costs, WES believes there are multiple benefits which can offset this.
These include greater capacity density on congested seabeds, fewer moorings, shorter device tethers and reduced dynamic cable lengths.
The cluster design could also improve offshore operations and maintenance and provide an electrical output better suited for integration with floating offshore wind, WES said.
WES managing director Tim Hurst said “Clustering wave energy converters could be a key solution for wave energy array deployments, and an attractive option for co-location with floating offshore wind farms.
“This cluster concept offers a potential path for commercialising wave energy and will be used to engage with stakeholders across the offshore renewable energy sector.”
Scotland is home to multiple wave energy developers, including Edinburgh-based Mocean Energy and Aberdeen-based ZOEX Power.
It also hosts the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) on Orkney, which has facilitated testing of numerous wave and tidal energy design concepts.
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