A WAVE energy converter developed by Aquamarine has generated power for the first time using a full-scale test rig onshore. The device, known as Oyster, produced and exported electricity to the grid at the UK’s New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC) near Newcastle.
Aquamarine says the test has proved that its device can deliver electricity on a commercial scale. The output from a single pumping cylinder delivered more than 170kW of electricity, demonstrating that a full-scale Oyster with two pumping cylinders could deliver well in excess of the modelled output of 350kW.
The firm says Oyster is capable of generating electricity in almost calm sea conditions to “worst of storms”, making large-scale commercial success “more achievable” than for many of its competitors.
Testing started at NaREC in March this year and ran through to the end of April, during which time Aquamarine was optimising the system settings, testing different components in terms of performance and fatigue, and obtaining operational experience while, importantly, producing predicted quantities of electricity.
The test rig was driven by a hydraulic power pack hired from Pelamis Wave Power, of Edinburgh.
The hydraulic rams drive the Oyster cylinder to produce high-pressure water which is fed into a Pelton wheel that is connected to a generator to produce electricity.
The pistons are double acting and the system is designed for deployment near-shore in water depths ranging 8-16m.
Each passing wave activates the pump, which delivers high-pressure water via a subsea pipeline to the shore. Onshore, the high-pressure water is converted to electrical power using conventional hydroelectric generators.
Installation of the first full-scale machine at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney is scheduled for this summer.
Further, the firm has an agreement with Airtricity to develop sites capable of hosting 1,000MW of marine energy by 2020 suitable for deployment of Oyster.
Martin McAdam, CEO of Aquamarine, said: “I am exceptionally happy that this achievement will allow us to take the next step in its deployment, a ground-breaking development in the UK.
“Aquamarine is forging ahead in order to deliver our mission to make marine renewable energy mainstream. These tests prove that we can have a single machine delivering up to half a megawatt of power and that a farm of these machines can deliver utility-scale power in the order of hundreds of megawatts.”
Partners in the project to date include Frazer Nash, which designed the rig; Howco, which built it; Pelamis (hydraulic power pack, and NaREC.
Aquamarine Power was founded in 2005 by Allan Thomson, together with Professor Trevor Whittaker, who is head of the award-winning wave-power research group at Queen’s University, Belfast.
The firm has received significant funding and support from Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Technology Strategy Board, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Scottish Government.