Carnegie Clean Energy has updated the design of its commercial prototype CETO 6 unit.
The new CETO 6 unit will have a nominal capacity of 1.5MW up from 1MW for the previous design.
This capacity will vary in accordance with the specific site conditions for each project and the specific design tailored for a project site.
It is well understood from previous sector research that multiple moorings increase the amount of power that can be absorbed by a wave energy convertor as a result of capturing energy in heave (vertical), surge (horizontal) and pitch (rotational) motions. Multiple moorings also require multiple foundations for each unit, potentially increasing the cost of foundations per unit. However, each of the mooring lines and associated foundations in the new CETO 6 design are carrying less load and can therefore be smaller than the foundation for a single moored device, the company explained.
Additionally, Carnegie has developed a networked arrangement for foundations for large scale wave farms that allows foundation sharing.
Another area of intensive research and analysis undertaken by Carnegie has been in understanding the movement of the Buoyant Actuator (BA) through the range of expected sea states, the consideration of different buoy geometries and the interaction of multiple mooring attachments.
Carnegie has developed a hydrodynamic modelling capabilities in‐house and taken advantage of the computational power available at the Pawsey Supercomputer in Perth to undertake more than 20 billion simulations over the past 12 months to optimize the CETO 6 unit hydrodynamics.
Carnegie has also developed a number of proprietary tools such as a requirements database, a “design wave” technique allowing rapid simulation of extreme waves, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), Monte Carlo unit availability model based to optimize unit design for reliability and O&M activities, and a proprietary cost parametric model to enable the assessment of technical and commercial trade‐offs for design selection decisions to ultimately optimize the levelised cost of energy.
Carnegie’s CEO and managing director, Dr Michael Ottaviano said: “We are delighted with the updated CETO 6 design. As other renewable technologies become more cost competitive, we need to continue to drive innovation into CETO and be prepared to disrupt our own thinking. Carnegie Clean Energy is determined to make our mark on the global renewable energy market with our CETO 6 wave energy technology.”