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.
Aquamarine Power installed Oyster at the EMEC in August 2009. On 20 November 2009, Oyster was officially launched and connected to the National Grid (UK) by the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond. [1]
Development work was started to build a more efficient and powerful second-generation device, Oyster 2. [1]
Oyster was developed by Edinburgh-based Aquamarine Power, a company that focuses on wave energy. The concept originated from research at Queen's University, Belfast, led by professor Trevor Whittaker, Head of the Wave Power Research Centre at Queen's. [2] Aquamarine Power also teamed up with Renewable Technology Ventures Ltd (STVL), [3] a subsidiary of Scottish and Southern Energy (SEE), to fund the Oyster project. Aquamarine Power was able to secure a £6.3m investment from Scottish Enterprise. In addition, Scottish Enterprises awarded Aquamarine Power a £3.15 million grant from the Wave and Tidal Energy: Research, Development and Demonstration Support fund (WATERS). [4] Aquamarine Power also received £1.5m from Sigma Capital Group plc. [5] Altogether, Aquamarine Power was able to raise £11 million to stage this project. [6]
In June 2009, Aquamarine Power signed a £2.5 million contract with Fugro Seacore to install the Oyster device at the European Marine Energy Centre test site at Billia Croo. Oyster was installed 400 metres offshore, west of the Orkney mainland, in 12 metre-deep water. [7] Oyster was installed in August 2009; however it was officially launched on 20 November 2009 by the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond. That same day, Oyster was connected the National Grid (UK) and began generating electricity. [5]
Aquamarine Power hoped to commercialize Oyster and signed an agreement with Scottish and Southern Energy to develop up to 1000MW of wave farms by 2020. [6] However, the test programme ended in 2015, when the company failed to find investors and ceased trading. [8]
Oyster harnessed the energy of near-shore ocean waves; it was designed to operate in water 10 to 12 metres deep. The Oyster is made up of a Power Connector Frame (PCF) and a Power Capture Unit (PCU). The 36-ton PCF is bolted to the seabed by 1-by-4 meter concrete piles that are drilled 14 metres deep into the seabed. The PCF requires careful and accurate positioning and leveling to compensate for the uneven, rocky seabed. The PCU is a 200-ton, 18-by-12-by-4 metre buoyant flap that is hinged to the PCF. In order to lower the PCU into the water to hinge it to the PCF, 120 tons of seawater must be pumped into ballast tanks within the PCU to provide sufficient negative buoyancy to aid its descent into the water. The PCU is almost entirely submerged underwater; only 2 metres of the device poke above the water. The PCU sways back and forth with the movement of the waves, [7] and this movement of the flap drives two hydraulic pistons that pump high-pressured water through three sub-sea pipeline to an onshore hydro-electric water turbine. The turbine then drives a 315 kW electrical generator, which converts the wave energy into electricity. [9]
The European Marine Energy Centre classifies Oyster as an Oscillating Wave Surge Converter:
There are several advantages to using a device like the Oyster:
A successful Oyster project would unlock £3-4 million of capital expenditure per MW installed, of which a significant proportion would be invested in the Orkney economy. A commercial wave farm could therefore represent a significant boost to the local economy and would provide long-term skilled jobs for local residents. Ongoing operations and maintenance would generate a further £150,000 per annum to the local economy.
— [13]
There are also many disadvantages to using a device like the Oyster:
An improved second-generation Oyster device was developed; the Oyster 2 or Oyster 800 referring to its 800 kW rated capacity. In December 2010, Aquamarine Power signed a £4 million contract with Scotland's leading fabrication contractor Burntisland Fabrications Ltd (BiFab). [16] BiFab began manufacturing Oyster 2 at its manufacturing plant in Methil, Fife, Scotland, [16] and the device was grid connected at the European Marine Energy Centre in June 2012 where testing continued until 2015. [17]
Aquamarine Power secured funding from many sources for the development of Oyster 2:
Oyster 800 employed the same basic technology of the original Oyster; however, it will feature a different shape that will maximize the amount of energy that the device is able to capture from the waves. [18] The original plan was for three 800 kW flaps that will all be linked to one pipeline leading to an onshore 2.4 MW hydro-electric generator. [18] However, only one flap was installed. The flap measured 26 metres, making it 50% larger than the original Oyster. [16] Aquamarine Power estimated that a small farm of 20 Oyster 2 devices would be capable of supplying enough electricity for over 12,000 homes, compared to the 9,000 homes the original Oyster is capable of powering. [20]
At the European Marine Energy Centre's Billia Croo site, a single Oyster 800 rated at 800 kW was grid-connected in June 2012 and was tested until 2015. [21] By mid 2014 the Oyster 800 had completed 20,000 hours of operation. [22]
Tidal power or tidal energy is harnessed by converting energy from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity using various methods.
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).
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 production of renewable energy in Scotland is a topic that came to the fore in technical, economic, and political terms during the opening years of the 21st century. The natural resource base for renewable energy is high by European, and even global standards, with the most important potential sources being wind, wave, and tide. Renewables generate almost all of Scotland's electricity, mostly from the country's wind power.
Renewable energy in the United Kingdom contributes to production for electricity, heat, and transport.
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.
The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) Ltd is a UKAS accredited test and research center 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.
The Siadar Wave Power Station was a proposed 4 MW wave farm 400 metres (1,300 ft) off the shore of Siadar Bay, in Lewis, Scotland. The £30 million project, was to be built by Wavegen, received Scottish Government approval on 22 January 2009. Originally, the project was developed in cooperation with npower Renewables. However, in August 2011, npower Renewables left the project. In 2012 project was cancelled.
Stephen Hugh Salter, is Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Edinburgh and inventor of the eponymous Salter duck wave energy device. Salter is also a proponent of geoengineering and is responsible for creating the concept of the mechanical enhancement of clouds to achieve cloud reflectivity enhancement.
Evopod is a unique tidal energy device being developed by a UK-based company Oceanflow Energy Ltd for generating electricity from tidal streams and ocean currents. It can operate in exposed deep water sites where severe wind and waves also make up the environment.
Aquamarine Power was a wave energy company, founded in 2005 to commercialise the Oyster wave energy converter, a device to capture energy from near-shore waves. The company's head offices were in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company ceased to trade on 20 November 2015.
A tidal farm is a group of multiple tidal stream generators assembled in the same location used for production of electric power, similar to that of a wind farm. The low-voltage powerlines from the individual units are then connected to a substation, where the voltage is stepped up with the use of a transformer for distribution through a high voltage transmission system.
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.
The Saltire Prize, named after the flag of Scotland, was a national award for advances in the commercial development of marine energy.
MeyGen is a tidal stream energy plant in the north of Scotland. The project is located in the Pentland Firth, specifically the Inner Sound between the Island of Stroma and the Scottish mainland.
Orbital Marine Power is a Scottish renewable energy company focused on the development and global deployment of its pioneering floating turbine technology. The O2 is Orbital's first commercial turbine and represents the culmination of more than 15 years of world leading product development in the UK. The 74 m long turbine is expected to operate in the waters off Orkney for the next 15–20 years with the capacity to meet the annual electricity demand of around 2,000 UK homes with clean, predictable power from the fast-flowing waters while offsetting approximately 2,200 tonnes of CO2 production per year. In a further ground-breaking element of the project, the O2 will provide power to the European Marine Energy Centre's onshore electrolyser to generate green hydrogen that will be used to demonstrate decarbonisation of wider energy requirements.
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.
OpenHydro Group Ltd was an Irish developer of tidal stream turbines, established in 2004. It was acquired by Naval Energies in 2013, however, Naval Energies decided in July 2018 to stop developing tidal turbines and focus on floating wind turbines. The company subsequently went into liquidation with debts of about €280m.
| Issues | |
|---|---|
| Projects & technologies | |
| Private sector | |
| Public sector | |
| Communities & individuals | |
| Intermediaries, partnerships & politics | |
| Legislation | |
| Public Sector | |
