DELIVERING EXPERTISE AND ANCHORING SOLUTIONS FOR CHALLENGING SEABED SETTINGS
The Basque company Oceantec Energías Marinas, promoted by Tecnalia Corporación Tecnológica and Iberdrola through the Perseo risk-capital programme, deployed its first Wave Energy Converter (WEC) at the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) in 2016.
The technology is a point absorber based on the Oscillating Water Column (OWC) principle. MARMOK-A-5 is a floating buoy of five metres in diameter, 42 metres in length and 80 tons in weight. The generating system comprises two turbines, located in the upper part of the device, with a rated capacity of 30 kW. This device is almost entirely submerged in the sea, except for the floating head.
The energy is captured using a water column created inside the central structure of the buoy which is driven like a piston by the oscillations of the waves, compressing and decompressing the air in a chamber at the top. The air is expelled at the top, where it is harnessed by the turbines, that are connected to an electricity generator.
The development of this technology has been supported by the Basque Energy Agency under a Pre-commercial Procurement Contract. The testing activities of the WEC are also part of the European project OPERA (Open Sea Operating Experience to Reduce Wave Energy Cost), which has received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme.
The BiMEP site is a challenging location for mooring as the sediment layer is shallow, with hard soils and rocks below. Vryhof expertise has been critical in analysing these constraints and selecting the proper anchor type.
FEATURES
Client: Oceantec Energías Marinas
Location: BiMEP test site, Spain
Period: 2016
Products: 2 x 3mT and 2 x 4mT STEVSHARK®
Services: Providing site assessment and anchor sizing
