CorPower Ocean

Last updated
CorPower Ocean AB
IndustryWave power
Founded2012;12 years ago (2012)
HeadquartersStockholm, Sweden
Key people
  • Patrik Möller (CEO)
  • Stig Lundbäck (Inventor)
Website https://corpowerocean.com/

CorPower Ocean AB is a wave energy device developer, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. They also have offices in Oslo, Viana do Castelo, and Stromness. The office in Viana do Castelo is an R&D centre that also serves as the manufacturing and service centre for the wave energy converters (WEC). [1]

Contents

The CorPower WEC is a point absorber device, fitted with a "WaveSpring" that allows the device to be tuned and detuned depending on the wave conditions, optimising power capture while improving survivability.

CorPower have tested several versions of their technology, most recently the commercial-scale C4 device in Aguçadora, Portugal launched in September 2023. [2] Prior to this, they tested a half scale prototype C3 at EMEC in Orkney, Scotland in 2018/19.

Device Concept

The CorPower WEC is a rotationally symmetrical point absorber, i.e. circular in plan. The concept was inspired by the human heart, invented in 2011 by cardiologist Stig Lundbäck. [3] It is fitted with a "WaveSpring" technology developed at NTNU, [4] that allows the device to be tuned and detuned depending on the wave conditions. This allows the device to move more in calm conditions, and move less during large waves during storms. [5]

The device is anchored to the seabed by a "UMACK" pile, developed within the Universal Mooring, Anchor & Connectivity Kit Demonstration project. [6] It uses a pneumatic pre-tensioning system to reduce the mass of the oscillating body, thus increasing its natural frequency. The natural state of the device is therefore detuned to the period of ocean waves. [7]

The oscillating motion of the device is transformed to rotary motion for the generator by a cascade gearbox. [4] The gearbox was developed at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and features eight pinion wheels to share the forces from the rack evenly. [8] It uses a similar design principle to a planetary gearbox. [7]

The shell of the WEC is made from filament-wound glass reinforced plastic with a DIAB Divinycell H structural core. It is produced in a mobile system, that can be transported to construct the hull close to where the WEC will be deployed. [9]

CorPack Arrays

CorPower plan to install arrays of about 25 devices, in what they call CorPack wave clusters. These will have a power output of about 10 MW, comparable to modern offshore wind turbines. [3] [10]

History

The company was founded by Lundbäck and Möller in 2012, with funding from the European EIT InnoEnergy accelerator program. [11] They are following a five-stage development plan, scaling up to commercial devices. Stages 1 and 2 comprised 1:30 and 1:16 scale model testing in 2012 and 2013-14, plus dry rig testing of a 1:3 scale power take off. Stage 3 involved 1:2 scale sea tests at EMEC in 2018. [12] Stages 4 and 5 will be conducted in Portugal as part of the HiWave-5 project, this aims to prove the survivability, performance, and economics of an array of grid connected devices, with DNV providing type certification. [13]

The timescales for these were initially 2019 to 2022, and 2022 to 2024 respectively, [13] however this appears to have slipped somewhat, as stage 5 has not commenced as of July 2024. In October 2022 they claimed to be finalising stage four. [3]

Initial development

Initial testing of the WaveSpring technology was conducted in November 2014 at Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France, in the Hydrodynamic and Ocean Engineering Tank. [4]

C3 testing at EMEC

In 2018 CorPower tested a half-scale C3 device at the EMEC Scapa Flow scale test site, which is not grid connected. This HiWave-3 project was supported by the Wave Energy Scotland Novel Wave Energy Converter (NWEC) Stage 3 programme, the Swedish Energy Agency, InnoEnergy, and the Interreg NWE FORESEA project. [14] The device was rated at 25 kW, was 4.3 m in diameter, and 10 m tall. [12]

C4 testing at Aguçadoura

In 2020, CorPower secured a license from the Portuguese Directorate-General for Natural Resources (DGRM) to deploy devices offshore of Aguçadoura in northern Portugal as part of their HiWave-5 project. [15] This is at the Aguçadoura test site previously used by Pelamis Wave Power for the Aguçadoura Wave Farm. A new 6.2 km long subsea cable was installed in 2022 by Maersk Supply Service, to provide communications and transmit power from an array of four devices back to shore. [16]

The C4 device was deployed at Aguçadora in Portugal in September 2023. It was launched at the port of Viana do Castello, and towed to the site, 4 km offshore. It was connected to the seabed by a bespoke "UMACK" anchoring system, and connected to the Portuguese electricity grid by a subsea cable. [17] Following a seven week commissioning period, the device started exporting power to the grid in October 2023. [18] In this first phase of testing, peak power output of up to 600 kW was recorded, and upgrades in planned onshore servicing after this may increase this to 850 kW. [19] It is planned to conduct a Power Performance Assessment phase in line with the IEC Technical Specification 62600-100. [19]

The 300 kW rated power C4 WEC is 9 m in diameter, 19 m tall, and has a mass of around 60 tonnes. [1] [20] In February 2024, it was announced the device had survived 18.5 m high waves during Storm Domingos in November 2023. [5]

Prior to deployment at sea, the C4 drivetrain was tested for a year in a purpose-built dry test rig at the companies factory in Västberga, Stockholm. This allowed the company to debug the system and tune the performance. [17] [1]

CorPower has partnered with the French company TotalEnergies to develop an array of devices at Aguçadora as part of the HiWave-5 project, which will see a further three CorPower WECs deployed in a small array. [21] It was originally planned to manufacture these devices between 2022 and 2024, although like many other things, this timeline was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. [1]

Future plans

In 2019, CorPower teamed up with project developer Simply Blue Group who want to develop projects in the UK and Ireland using the CorPower technology. It was hoped at that time to have projects exporting power by 2024. [22]

Simply Blue together with Irish energy utility ESB are planning to deploy CorPower WECs off the coast of County Clare, Ireland in a project called Saoirse. As of September 2023, the plan is to install an array of about 5 MW approximately 4 km from the coast, to be constructed in 2028/2029. [23]

Simply Blue applied in March 2023 for a license to deploy a CorPack wave cluster at the EMEC Billia Croo wave test site in Orkney. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wave power</span> Transport of energy by wind waves, and the capture of that energy to do useful work

Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter (WEC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pelamis Wave Energy Converter</span>

The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter was a technology that used the motion of ocean surface waves to create electricity. The machine was made up of connected sections which flex and bend as waves pass; it is this motion which is used to generate electricity.

The Wave Hub is a floating offshore wind and wave power research project. The project is developed approximately 10 miles (16 km) off Hayle, on the north coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The hub was installed on the seabed in September 2010, and is a 'socket' sitting on the seabed for wave energy converters to be plugged into. It will have connections to it from arrays of up to four kinds of wave energy converter. A cable from the hub to main land will take electrical power from the devices to the electric grid. The total capacity of the hub will be 20 MWe. The estimated cost of the project is £28 million.

Verdant Power, Inc is a maker and installer of tidal power and hydroelectric systems. Their primary device is an underwater turbine, similar to a three-bladed wind turbine, that is designed to capture energy from tidal currents and (precipitation-driven) river currents. The company uses the trade term "kinetic hydropower" to distinguish their systems from those based on dam construction. The company's first project, the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project, is several turbines in New York City's East River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aguçadoura Wave Farm</span>

The Aguçadoura Wave Farm was a wave farm located 5 km (3 mi) offshore near Póvoa de Varzim north of Porto in Portugal. The farm was designed to use three Pelamis Wave Energy Converters to convert the motion of the ocean surface waves into electricity, totalling to 2.25 MW in total installed capacity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CETO</span> Submerged wave power technology

CETO is a wave-energy technology that converts kinetic energy from ocean swell into electrical power and directly desalinates freshwater through reverse osmosis. The technology was developed and tested onshore and offshore in Fremantle, Western Australia. In early 2015 a CETO 5 production installation was commissioned and connected to the grid. As of January 2016 all the electricity generated is being purchased to contribute towards the power requirements of HMAS Stirling naval base at Garden Island, Western Australia. Some of the energy will also be used directly to desalinate water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Marine Energy Centre</span>

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) Ltd. is a UKAS accredited test and research centre focused on wave and tidal power development, based in the Orkney Islands, UK. The centre provides developers with the opportunity to test full-scale grid-connected prototype devices in wave and tidal conditions.

Pelamis Wave Power designed and manufactured the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter – a technology that uses the motion of ocean surface waves to create electricity. The company was established in 1998 and had offices and fabrication facilities in Leith Docks, Edinburgh, Scotland. It went into administration in November 2014.

Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) is a U.S. publicly owned renewable energy company, providing electric power and communications solutions, services and related for remote offshore applications. The company's PowerBuoy wave energy conversion technology is theoretically scalable to hundreds of megawatts and the generated energy from wave power can be supplied to the grid via submarine cables. Several projects were undertaken around the world, but the economic viability of the theoretical concept has been problematic.

The Oyster was a hydro-electric wave energy device that used the motion of ocean waves to generate electricity. It was made up of a Power Connector Frame (PCF), which is bolted to the seabed, and a Power Capture Unit (PCU). The PCU is a hinged buoyant flap that moves back and forth with movement of the waves. The movement of the flap drives two hydraulic pistons that feed high-pressured water to an onshore hydro-electric turbine, which drives a generator to make electricity. Oyster was stationed at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) at its Billia Croo site in Orkney, Scotland until the company ceased trading in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine energy</span> Energy stored in the waters of oceans

Marine energy or marine power refers to the energy carried by ocean waves, tides, salinity, and ocean temperature differences. The movement of water in the world's oceans creates a vast store of kinetic energy, or energy in motion. Some of this energy can be harnessed to generate electricity to power homes, transport and industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tidal stream generator</span> Type of tidal power generation technology

A tidal stream generator, often referred to as a tidal energy converter (TEC), is a machine that extracts energy from moving masses of water, in particular tides, although the term is often used in reference to machines designed to extract energy from the run of a river or tidal estuarine sites. Certain types of these machines function very much like underwater wind turbines and are thus often referred to as tidal turbines. They were first conceived in the 1970s during the oil crisis.

Waves4Power is a Swedish-based developer of buoy-based Offshore Wave Energy Converter (OWEC) systems. A demonstration plant was installed in 2016 at the Runde Environmental Centre in Norway, where testing was conducted with WaveEL, an offshore buoy. This was connected via sub-sea cable to the shore based power grid.

Wave Energy Scotland (WES) is a technology development body set up by the Scottish Government to facilitate the development of wave energy in Scotland. It was set up in 2015 and is a subsidiary of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) based in Inverness.

Mocean EnergyLtd. is a wave energy technology developer, based in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. They are developing a hinged-raft attenuator wave energy converter (WEC) at various scales for different markets.

Many tidal stream generators have been developed over the years to harness the power of tidal currents flowing around coastlines. These are also called tidal stream turbines (TST), tidal energy converters (TEC), or marine hydro-kinetic (MHK) generation. These turbines operate on a similar principle to wind turbines, but are designed to work in a fluid approximately 800 times more dense than air which is moving at a slower velocity. Note that tidal barrages or lagoons operate on a different principle, generating power by impounding the rising and falling tide.

The Aguçadoura test site is an offshore location in the north of Portugal where grid connected offshore renewable energy devices have been tested, for research and project demonstration. It is about 5 km (3 miles) off the coast of Aguçadoura, Póvoa de Varzim, about 35 km NNE of central Porto.

AWS Ocean Energy Ltd is a Scottish wave energy device developer, based in Dochfour near Inverness, Highland. The company has developed and tested several concepts, primarily the Archimedes Waveswing (AWS) after which the company is named.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Knott, David (2020-09-13). "CorPower Ocean : Sea Change". EME Outlook Magazine. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  2. ↑ "CorPower Ocean Installs First Commercial Wave Energy Converter Offshore Portugal". Offshore Engineer Magazine. 2023-09-05. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
  3. 1 2 3 Hansson, Magnus (9 November 2023) [First published 25 October 2022]. "Human heart inspiration for wave energy". sebgroup.com. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  4. 1 2 3 Todalshaug, Jørgen Hals; Ásgeirsson, Gunnar Steinn; Hjálmarsson, Eysteinn; Maillet, Jéromine; Möller, Patrik; Pires, Pedro; Guérinel, Matthieu; Lopes, Miguel (2016-09-01). "Tank testing of an inherently phase-controlled wave energy converter". International Journal of Marine Energy. Selected Papers from the European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference 2015, Nante, France. 15: 68–84. doi:10.1016/j.ijome.2016.04.007. ISSN   2214-1669.
  5. 1 2 "CorPower boosts electricity generation in calm seas with C4 wave energy device". www.imeche.org. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
  6. ↑ "UMACK Project Overview". European Marine Energy Centre. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  7. 1 2 CorPower Ocean AB (June 2018). HiDrive WES Power Take Off Stage 3 Public Report (D7.8) (Report). Retrieved 2024-03-02– via Wave Energy Scotland Knowledge Library.
  8. ↑ Viaintermedia.com (2018-02-21). "CorPower Wave Energy Converter Undergoes Testing in North Atlantic". Renewable Energy Magazine. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  9. ↑ "Industrial-scale wave energy system enabled by mobile filament winding". Autonational. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
  10. ↑ "CorPack". CorPower Ocean. 2022-06-09. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  11. ↑ "About us – CorPower Ocean - Wave Power. To Power the Planet". 2021-12-17. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  12. 1 2 "CorPower HiWave-3 at EMEC". tethys.pnnl.gov. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  13. 1 2 IEA-OES (2022). Annual Report: An Overview of Ocean Energy Activities in 2021 (Report). p. 180.
  14. ↑ "CorPower deploys wave energy technology at EMEC". International Water Power and Dam Construction. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
  15. ↑ Smith, Sarah (2020-11-16). "CorPower Ocean secures license for wave energy project in Portugal". Energy Global. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  16. ↑ Graeme, Christopher (2022-10-10). "CorPower Ocean Supplies Service installs subsea cable for HiWave-5 Project". Essential Business. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  17. 1 2 "CorPower C4 wave energy converter installed in Portugal". The Engineer. 2023-09-05. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
  18. ↑ Garanovic, Amir (2023-10-13). "CorPower Ocean's wave energy device starts exporting power to Portugal's grid". Offshore Energy. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  19. 1 2 "CorPower Ocean announces wave energy breakthrough in Portuguese waters". www.theportugalnews.com. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  20. ↑ CorPower Ocean (2022-06-15). "CorPower Ocean unveils commercial scale products to unleash utility scale wave farms" . Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  21. ↑ Chetwynd, Gareth (2023-12-05). "Beating heart-inspired wave energy technology is loved by oil giant TotalEnergies". Recharge | Latest renewable energy news. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  22. ↑ Shumkov, Ivan (2019-07-09). "Simply Blue Energy, CorPower to develop wave projects in UK, Ireland". Renewables Now. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  23. ↑ "About Us | Saoirse Wave Energy | Simply Blue Group". Saoirse Wave Energy. 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  24. ↑ "Marine Licence - Wave Energy Converter Array - Billia Croo Wave Test Site, The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) - 00010221 | Marine Scotland Information". marine.gov.scot. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
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