Renewable Energy: AWS Waveswing Put to the Test
Inverness-based AWS Ocean Energy announced encouraging results from the current phase of sea trials of its wave energy device at the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC) in Orkney. In a key highlight of the scientific testing programme to date at EMEC’s Scapa Flow test site, the Waveswing wave energy converter captured average power over 10kW and peaks of 80kW, during a period of moderate wave conditions. These figures exceeded the developer’s own predictions by 20%.Other key findings underline the survivability potential of the subsea Waveswing which continued to deliver power in poor weather conditions.
Battery-Electric Surge: ESS Scales Up in Maritime
Ask the right government department in any G7 state and you’ll find funding to put battery power for your vessel. Beyond funds, new battery makers and system integrators are ironing out safety issues, and a growing number of giga-sized cell factories offer hope that costs will fall for marine energy storage, as ESS choice grows. Efforts are also underway to recycle rare earth elements and to augment or greenify staggeringly high plant electricity inputs. Apart from funding, the drivers of change include constraints on shipping in Emissions Free Areas like the fjords of Norway…
Making Waves @ OSU: Energy Secretary, Senators, Governor tour Oregon State Wave Lab
U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Oregon U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown visited the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory at Oregon State University on Tuesday afternoon, with Granholm touting wave energy as “the elixir that we need” to address climate change by ending the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels.The visit was organized by OSU and the Pacific Marine Energy Center, a consortium of universities including Oregon State that is focused on advancing marine renewable energy.“We’ve all been in the ocean…
Renewable Energy: First Floating Tidal Power Delivered to Nova Scotia Grid
Sustainable Marine said it has successfully harnessed the tidal currents in Canada’s Bay of Fundy, delivering the first floating in-stream tidal power to Nova Scotia’s grid.Nova Scotia has allocated circa 30MW of capacity via demonstration permits and berths at FORCE (Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy) for developers to demonstrate their energy generation prowess. “Achieving ‘first power’ to the grid from our new platform in Grand Passage signals a real inflection point for our business,” said Jason Hayman, CEO, Sustainable Marine. “It crystalizes the journey we’ve been on, following almost a decade of rigorous research, development and testing.
Siemens Gamesa, GRI Renewables Invest in NE England Offshore Wind Production
Siemens Gamesa and GRI Renewables Industries will invest more than $360 million into offshore wind manufacturing facilities in northeast England.Siemens Gamesa will invest a total of $258m to expand its blade manufacturing site located near Hull - Britain's largest offshore wind manufacturing facility - readying it for the next generation of offshore wind turbines and blades greater than 100 metres, the government said.Siemens Gamesa will add 200 workers to the 1,000 it already employs in the factory, the company said in a separate…
Innovative Tidal Power Project Proceeds in the Scottish Sea
SKF is participating in a tidal power project off the Orkney Islands.Orbital Marine Power, Scottish-based developers of the world’s leading floating tidal turbine technology, has now launched its first commercial 2MW unit, the Orbital O2, which will soon be installed at European Marine Energy Center (EMEC), where it will become the world’s most powerful operational tidal turbine.About 15 meters below the O2’s 72m-long superstructure, are two fully integrated drive trains from SKF on two wing-like legs. Here the two double-bladed rotors turn, each with a diameter of 20 m, the largest ever on a single generating platform to date, driven by the ocean current.
BLUE X: Mocean Energy unveils Wave Energy Prototype
Mocean Energy unveiled its Blue X wave energy prototype which will take to the seas in Orkney next month.The 20-m long, 38-ton wave machine has been fabricated wholly in Scotland and will be deployed at the European Marine Energy Center’s Scapa Flow test site for sea trials initially, and then later deployed at EMEC’s large scale Billia Croo test site this summer.Next year Mocean Energy plan to connect the device to a subsea battery which will be used to power a remotely operated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV).The manufacture…
Minesto Gets OK for Tidal Kite Installation in Faroe Islands
Marine energy developer Minesto has said it been granted all necessary permits and consents for the installation of two grid-connected tidal kite systems in Vestmannasund, Faroe Islands.The granted permits and consents cover two DG100 tidal kite systems which will be installed in Vestmannasund in a collaboration between Minesto and the Faroese electric utility company SEV. Minesto has been granted public funding totaling approx. €3.5 million through the EU's EIC Accelerator and the Swedish Energy Agency for the implementation of…
Tidal Power Firm gets Funding from Scottish Gov't
Tidal energy developer MeyGen Ltd has been awarded a £1.545 million grant from the Scottish Government's Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund.The proceeds will be used to develop a subsea tidal turbine connection hub for the next phase of development of the MeyGen tidal power array, the world's largest tidal stream power project, SIMEC Atlantis Energy, the parent company of MeyGen Ltd. said.The MeyGen Phase 1A, located off the northern tip of Scotland, formally entered the 25-year operations phase in April 2018.The Saltire Tidal…
Saitec Installs Prototype BlueSATH
Spanish engineering company Saitec it will deploy its first medium-scale offshore wind prototype, called BlueSATH, near Santander, Spain, in the first quarter of 2020.The project is scheduled to go online during the first quarter of 2020 in the open sea waters, said the company.Testing will take place in real sea environment with the deployment of a 1:6 scaled prototype of a 10 MW wind turbine using SATH floating technology, acronym of Swinging Around Twin Hull, an innovative, competitive and cost efficient solution for offshore wind industry…
OES: Surge in Tidal Energy in 2020
The last annual report issued by Ocean Energy Systems (OES) highlights significant international investment including $25m pledged by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to support 12 ‘next-generation’ marine energy projects and Wave Energy Scotland committing $9.9 million in two wave energy machines next year.“In the last 12 months we have seen major progress with global tidal projects achieving extensive operating hours and wave technology progressing in large-scale laboratory and offshore test sites,” said OES chairman Henry Jeffrey from the University of Edinburgh.
Minesto Boosts Taiwanese Presence
Swedish marine energy developer Minesto AB has renewed the collaboration agreement with National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU) to explore the potential for Minesto’s Deep Green technology in Taiwan.The renewed collaboration agreement with NTOU's Center for Ocean Energy System (COES) was signed at a ceremony in Taipei by Minesto’s CEO Dr Martin Edlund and Professor Chen-Chou Lin, Director of COES.The collaboration between Minesto and COES builds on a phase-staged approach to go from a joint demonstration project at a test site in Keelung to full-scale ocean deployment of Minesto’s Deep Green technology in Taiwan.
EMEC Tidal Lease Extended
The European Marine Energy Centre has secured a lease extension on its primary tidal energy test site until 2040 from Crown Estate Scotland.The extension will support the long-term ambitions and demonstration plans of EMEC’s clients.The grid-connected Fall of Warness site has eight test berths ranging from 12-50 metres in depth. Since the site was opened in 2007, 10 tidal energy companies have tested 19 prototypes at the Fall of Warness location.Located off Eday, one of Orkney’s northern isles, the Fall of Warness boasts high-velocity tidal flows reaching up to four metres per second (around eight knots).
Magallanes Installs Turbine at EMEC
Spanish tidal energy developer Magallanes Renovables is testing its tidal technology on a test site at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland.The successful installation of their second generation (2G) 2MW tidal platform ‘ATIR’ took place on 16th February and marks a major milestone in the Ocean_2G project, which aims to test, validate and pre-certify Magallanes’ device, said a release from EMEC.The ATIR was built and launched in Vigo, Spain in 2017, where it underwent a structured test programme to optimise the system…
Welcon to Build World's First TetraSpar Foundation
Denmark’s Welcon has received the order to produce the first TetraSpar floating offshore foundation for a consortium comprising Shell, Innogy and Stiesdal Offshore Technologies.We are very proud to be involved in this exciting project, which can be a game changer in offshore foundations for wind turbines,” Welcon said.Earlier, Innogy, Shell and Stiesdal Offshore Technologies A/S (SOT) have signed an investment and cooperation agreement to build a demonstration project using SOT’s TetraSpar floating foundation concept.The demonstration…
Schottel Merges Tidal Units to Sustainable Marine Energy
Schottel, the manufacturer of propulsion and steering systems for ships and offshore applications, has made a strategic decision to merge its tidal energy businesses into Sustainable Marine Energy (SME), including UK subsidiary TidalStream Ltd and Canadian subsidiary Black Rock Tidal Power Inc (BRTP)."Following the successful collaboration between SME, Schottel Hydro and Black Rock Tidal Power to develop and demonstrate the PLAT-I floating tidal energy system, with deployments in Scotland and in Canada, Schottel has made a strategic decision to merge its tidal energy businesses into SME…
Engie, EDPR, Sumitomo Pact to Build French Offshore Wind Farms
French utility Engie and Spanish partner EDP Renovaveis (EDPR) announced their alliance with the Japanese group Sumitomo Corporation to build the French offshore wind farms of Dieppe-Le Tréport and Yeu-Noirmoutier.As part of the alliance, Sumitomo Corporation acquires a 29.5% equity stake in the French offshore projects (Dieppe Le Tréport and Yeu Noirmoutier) and will bring to the consortium its proven and complementary offshore wind expertise in terms of development, construction and operation.ENGIE remains the reference shareholder with a 31% stake and the leading industrial player of both parks (496 MW each)…
Offshore Wind: SeaTwirl Secures Funding
Swedish floating wind turbine player SeaTwirl has joined the Ocean Energy Scale-Up Alliance (OESA) that has been granted funding from the Interreg North Sea Region.SeaTwirl is a vertical floating wind turbine that was tested off the west coast of Sweden in 2011. It is also the name of the company that produces the turbine.OESA, which is coordinated by the Dutch Marine Energy Center, has been granted funding from Interreg North Sea Region for a three-year project which aims to accelerate the deployment of large-scale ocean energy pilots in the North Sea.13 partners are tied to OESA…
Tidal Developer Collaboration to Tackle Foundation Mooring
CorPower and Sustainable Marine Energy join forces for a wave and tidal developer collaboration to develop and demonstrate generic foundation mooring solution to reduce cost and improve O&M methods.The 35-month UMACK (Universal Mooring, Anchor & Connectivity Kit Demonstration) project will address ocean energy affordability, survivability, reliability and installation through the demonstration of a generic anchor-foundation-mooring-connectivity system which aims to reduce capital and installation costs by up to 50%.UMACK is being…
SEA\LNG Voices Support for MEPC 73 Outcomes
SEA\LNG, the multi-sector industry coalition aiming to accelerate the widespread adoption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel, strongly supports the decision of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) to reaffirm the January 1, 2020 implementation date of the 0.50% sulphur fuel limit.SEA\LNG said in a press release that it also applauds the adoption of the amendment to MARPOL Annex VI for a carriage ban on non-compliant fuels for vessels without an approved equivalent arrangement to meet the sulphur limit – such as an exhaust gas cleaning system (EGCS) on March 1…
