A Clear Pathway Towards Success

The WEDUSEA project kicked off in September 2022 and will run for four years until September 2026.

The Project has Three Phases:

One

The first phase is the initial design of a device suited to the European Marine Energy Centre’s test site ocean conditions.

Two

The second will be the fabrication of the device and integration of the machinery, followed by the demonstration at the site, lasting two years.

Three

The final phase will be commercialisation and dissemination which sees the capitalisation and exploitation of the results.

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The Project Phases

Phase One is the Design and Planning phase leading to a Go/No Go decision and then there are two major operational phases. Phase 2 is the Demonstration in which it is expected that the baseline device will generate in excess of 1,650 MWh over the deployment and Phase 3 sees the Commercialisation and Dissemination of results.

The project has an overall duration of 4 years to enable a two year deployment period at sea. This will allow adequate demonstration of the critical innovations, power production, availability and reliability, including over two winter periods.

Phase one

System Design and Demonstration Planning

This phase is classed as a FEED (Front End Engineering Design) study and focuses on the elements required to plan and quantify the costs and the timelines for the Demonstration in Phase 2. All of the elements in the Demonstration Phase are progressed from design stage through to supplier engagement to provide pre-procurement quotations and timings.

Phase two

Demonstration

It has been assumed for planning purposes that the Go/No Go assessment will be completed in two months. This means that Phase 2 will commence in July 2023. All device components will be procured at the start of Phase 2. The complete power take-off system will be dry tested at the Fraunhofer IEE laboratory before integration into the hull. This will ensure that the system is fully functional before shipping and reduce the risk of failures during operation.

The completed system will then be dry-tested onshore after assembly in the OE35 hull at the Marshalling Site through an “End to End” test which involves live testing of all components and a high voltage grid connection simulation. The complete system will then be commission tested after deployment offshore and connection to the grid. Following an initial operational period to optimise the power performance and tune the control systems, the device will operate in a fully autonomous mode with full data acquisition and alarm supervision only. The purpose of this autonomous operation is to validate the “digital twin” model and demonstrate the digitalisation of the Wave Energy Convertor power system infrastructure for future interaction with a Grid Operator.

Phase three

Commercialisation and Dissemination

This Phase will realise industrial roll-out and achievement of Green Deal Goals including a techno-economic assessment of the activities in the Demonstration Phase. Stakeholder knowledge will be gathered to shape the final outcome of the project and define pathways to achieve the aims of the European Green Deal, the Offshore Energy Strategy and the Clean Energy Transition. The overall project results will be shared with the wider ocean energy industry and relevant stakeholders. Partner companies will actively exploit the results through new innovations, products and services. The results will also be disseminated to feed environmental databases and IEC electrotechnical standards.

The Life Cycle Assessment will also be finalised for the project, taking account of the recycling of the device hull and other main components. An assessment of the application of the EcoDesign Directive will also be carried out.

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Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.