Cathelco have won an order to supply seawater pipework anti-fouling equipment for Pelamis, a ‘sea snake’ structure which produces electricity from the action of the waves.
Pelamis Wave Power Ltd was the first company to generate wave energy for the UK grid and became the first company to operate a ‘wave farm’ anywhere in the world in 2008.
The Pelamis is a semi-submerged floating structure composed of cylindrical steel sections linked by hinged joints. Each of the joints contains a hydraulic pump. As the waves move the section, high pressure oil is pumped from the joints through motors. The motors drive the generators that produce electricity.
The hydraulic oil is cooled within a box cooler system using seawater for cooling purposes. Cathelco are supplying anti-fouling anodes which are designed to prevent barnacle and mussel fouling within the box cooler unit. This eliminates the risk of the cooling tubes becoming encrusted with marine growth which prevents effective heat dissipation.
Each box cooler unit will be fitted with two copper anodes and a cathode which are connected to a control panel. In operation, the anodes produce copper ions which prevent barnacle and mussel larvae from settling on the box cooler tubes. Only very small concentrations – less than 2 parts per billion – are necessary to prevent the build up of marine growth which can be difficult and time consuming to remove manually.
This is the first time that the Cathelco system has been used on a ‘wave energy’ project. However, it has proved its effectiveness on commercial and naval vessels over a period of more than 50 years with a record of over 20,000 installations worldwide.
“We are delighted to be associated with the Pelamis project which opens the possibility of generating ‘green’ energy off the coast of the United Kingdom and in many other areas of the world”, said Justin Salisbury, managing director of Cathelco Ltd.
The contract for the anti-fouling equipment was won in conjunction with Blokland Non Ferro, the Dutch manufacturers of box cooler systems who have formed an alliance with Cathelco.