Carnegie Wave Energy has announced the award of a £2m grant from the Scottish Government’s Wave Energy Scotland (WES) for the development of a universal Power Take Off system to convert mechanical energy to electricity.
The ‘WavePOD’ project will deliver a fully tested and robust hydraulic Power Take Off (PTO) prototype system together with the design and specification for a full-scale system for subsequent integration into a full scale CETO device.
The project will take 18 months to design, deliver and test a 1/10th scale prototype plus the full scale system design and specification and is fully funded by WES. Carnegie’s 100% owned subsidiary, CWE UK, will develop the system along with Scottish wave developer Aquamarine Power and with global drive and control manufacturer Bosch Rexroth.
The “Power Take Off” is a conversion system located within the CETO 6 buoy that converts the hydraulic and mechanical energy from the CETO hydraulic cylinder into electricity for export back ashore to the electrical grid. The full scale WavePOD system will be targeted for use in Carnegie’s first UK project due for operation in 2018, following the delivery of Carnegie’s CETO 6 Project off Garden Island in Western Australia.
Fergus Ewing , Minster for Energy, the Scottish Government commented, ‘‘This is a hugely significant day for Wave Energy Scotland (WES). I am delighted to see the first contracts being awarded to technology developers. The Scottish Government is committed to supporting this important sector and we are confident that Scotland will continue to hold its world class status as a thriving country for wave energy technology development.”
Carnegie’s Chief Technology Officer, Jonathan Fiévez , said, “We see this project as a unique initiative to bring together two major wave energy developers and the experience of Bosch in order to boost efficiency, improve reliability and reduce the cost of this critical element. The ultimate goal of WavePOD is to have a Power Take Off with manufacturer guaranteed performance delivered to Carnegie ready to load directly into our CETO Unit. The WavePOD project complements Carnegie’s existing Power Take Off development for the CETO 6 Garden Island project already underway with Bosch Rexroth. It will provide a system that can be integrated into Carnegie’s first UK projects. ”