US-based marine energy developer Resolute Marine has teamed up with ReVision Consulting for the optimization and adaption of its Wave2O technology as part of the TEAMER project.
Through the U.S. Department of Energy’s TEAMER program, Resolute has engaged with ReVision Consulting to develop a suite of techno-economic optimization tools that will allow it to easily adapt and optimize its Wave2O technology to a wide range of site conditions.
The effort will focus on the development of parametrically scalable cost and economic models and explore alternate development pathways that could enable rapid cost-reduction pathways through a series of sensitivity studies and cost validation.
Resolute’s Wave2O technology is a wave-powered desalination plant. The onshore reverse osmosis plant is driven by an array of offshore wave energy converters (WECs). The WEC is categorized as an Oscillating Wave Surge Converter (OWSC) incorporating a power take-off (PTO) system which employs a fixed displacement seawater high-pressure pump.
The WEC system’s prime mover is a bottom hinged flap which oscillates in response to incident wave excitation. Conversion of energy from oscillation of the prime mover subsystem to hydraulic energy in the PTO subsystem represents the primary energy conversion step.
Resolute’s Wave2O WEC system – an OWSC device (SurgeWEC) – employs a hinged flap as a prime mover.
Buoyancy is usually employed to provide a restoring moment such that the prime mover returns to the vertical equilibrium position upon perturbation. Given excitation from incident waves, the prime mover will respond by oscillating about its axis of rotation.
Energy may be extracted from the incident waves by applying a damping moment to the oscillating prime mover. This is achieved by the PTO system. Given the slow speed and large forces typically involved, hydraulic PTO systems are commonly employed in practice.
The oscillating prime mover may be referenced against either a floating or fixed platform.
The work in the TEAMER project will develop additional tools useful in the driving a techno economically optimized design for the next generation of Resolute’s wave energy system.