Wave Energy Devices News

European tidal stream installations reached 26.8MW, and wave energy installations 11.3MW in 2018, according to yearly statistics published by Ocean Energy Europe.Europe continues to lead the world in ocean energy deployments, and last year its tidal projects produced record volumes of electricity.Annual installations - 3.7 MW of tidal stream capacity was put in the water in 2018. This represents more than twice the capacity installed in 2017, making this a solid year for tidal activity.26.8 MW of tidal stream technology has been deployed in Europe since 2010. Of this, 11.9 MW is currently operating, and 14.9 MW has been decommissioned as projects successfully complete their testing programmes.Over the past decade…

Despite some 7,000 miles separating Ireland and Hawaii, the two islands have a lot in common. The islands’ peoples have always looked to their respective oceans for resources, inspiration and opportunity. Today, Irish company Ocean Energy announced its wave energy convertor OE Buoy will be built by Oregon-based Vigor and deployed at the U.S. Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site on the windward coast of the Hawaiian Island of O’ahu in the fall of 2018. The contract value is $6.5 million out of a total project value of $12 million for this first of a kind grid scale project at the U.S.

Xodus Group and Green Marine are partnering to provide an integrated service for the maintenance of offshore renewable assets. The partners will utilise Xodus’ integrity management software XAMIN to capture and monitor live data from offshore marine assets, while Green Marine will offer physical offshore inspection and repair services. The one-stop solution aims to streamline an asset’s performance, providing efficiencies and preventing downtime, in particular targeting offshore wind, tidal and wave energy devices, cabling and associated infrastructure. Zande added: "The renewables sector has the opportunity to learn lessons from the oil and gas industry where poor data management is causing problems when identifying component condition or proving life extension.

DuPont Performance Polymers and Ireland-based Technology from Ideas (TFI) collaborated to develop  a novel way to allow moored devices to move with the sea, which dramatically reduces peak loads up to 70% and improves durability of  mooring lines that tether and protect high-value marine devices, such as wave energy devices and fish farms. The new Dynamic Tethers wave protection system replaces chain and rope mooring, which pulls taut, rattles and wears quickly as it moves against the sea.

Wave energy developer Carnegie Wave Energy Limited has provided an update on the recent progress of the Perth Wave Energy Project. Carnegie has made significant progress on the assembly and testing stage of the Perth Wave Energy Project in advance of the project’s final commissioning and operation phase. Noteworthy recent progress includes the completion of the offshore preparations in advance of the deployment of the CETO unit, completion of construction of the onshore plant including installation of all power generation and conditioning equipment on Garden Island, and nearing completion of the testing of the CETO units. Over the past months, Carnegie has been working through a rigorous program of integration testing of the CETO units in advance of offshore installation and commissioning.

ARENA today announced $770,000 funding for Swinburne University of Technology to develop modelling on the performance of wave energy farms. The wave energy industry is emerging world-wide and there are few multiple device installations operating today. Predicting the best way to arrange future projects will help to better understand how different technologies will behave in certain circumstances. The modelling aims to discover the best ways of positioning wave arrays so that devices move in synergy with one-another, creating greater efficiencies. Swinburne is collaborating with interested Australian wave energy companies, which will sit on a project steering committee and have offered funding support and staff resources.

As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, cut carbon pollution and develop domestic energy sources, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced today it has taken an important step toward issuing a research lease for a facility to test utility-scale wave energy devices in federal waters off Oregon. The non-competitive lease would be for the offshore area where the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center at Oregon State University (Center) would site the hydrokinetic energy research project.

As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, cut carbon pollution and develop domestic energy sources, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is assessing whether there is competitive interest in wave energy research or development in an area of federal waters offshore Oregon where the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center at Oregon State University (NNMREC-OSU) proposes to site a hydrokinetic energy facility to test utility-scale wave energy devices. BOEM will publish the "Notice of Potential Research Lease on the Outer Continental Shelf Offshore Oregon, Request for Competitive Interest” in the Federal Register on March 24…

The triangular shaped Energy Island will comprise six oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy devices and an offshore wind turbine assembly and will be capable of generating up to 10 megawatts of power. It is envisaged that six or more Energy Islands may be linked together to create an Energy Farm, which is estimated could supply power to 16,500 Australian households per year. Wood Group Kenny's initial eight-month scope of work under the contract will be carried out in two parts. The first part will involve a data gathering exercise covering a wide range of environmental and technical issues, and the second part will involve conceptual study work to define the layout and configuration of the overall Energy Island assembly.

Eco Wave Power (EWP) has recently installed a medium-scale wave energy power plant in the Black Sea. The installation of EWP's system, took place in recognition of the international 'Mother Earth Day,' celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. The Black Sea provided real-life conditions necessary for the testing of EWP's wave energy devices under uncontrolled wave heights and wave periods. The next phase of EWP will be to move the medium-scale power plant to a different coastal structure, in order to show potential clients that EWP's wave energy generation system can be easily connected to almost any ocean structure. After this…