Our member Ocean Harvesting Technologies has completed the system design for a full-scale device named InfinityWEC. In a planned two-year test and demonstration project, the InfinityWEC will first be tested on a half-scale Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) test rig by the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) within the SMART-Ocean and Test site Skagerrak Initiative.
The project includes detailed design, build and test of the InfinityDrive power take-off (PTO) and ball screw actuator systems, using HIL rig setup integrated with Ocean Harvesting’s wave-to-wire simulation model in WEC-Sim to provide realistic interaction between the wave energy converter (WEC) and waves.
Ocean Harvesting is hoping to start the project in September this year, and is currently looking to raise funds through the Swedish Energy Agency and the EU in order to finance it. According to Mikael Sidenmark, CEO of Ocean Harvesting, the overall purpose of the project is to qualify the WEC machinery for sea trial in a complete InfinityWEC system, and to demonstrate the technology for industry stakeholders.
“We believe that the InfinityWEC will be very competitive to offshore wind power, offering lower cost of energy already early on after a commercial launch, providing more than 20 times higher capacity per used sea area, having virtually no visual impact and outputting a more stable power with less intermittency,” Sidenmark said.
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Source: TidalEnergyToday