Support grows for ocean energy
Transcript of Support grows for ocean energy
42 July/August 2013 | Renewable Energy Focus
Support grows for ocean energy
OCEAN ENERGY (wave and tidal)
still remains at an early stage, mainly
at a research and development (R&D)
phase with a few projects going into
demonstration status or scaling their
prototypes up. It is clear however that governments are
gaining confi dence in the sector, with new policies and
funding programmes introduced to promote industry
development and bring the technology closer to a com-
mercial maturity. Key players in this regard are the UK,
Ireland, France, Portugal, South Korea and Australia.
The UK government has one of
the most ambitious programmes -
aiming to develop 200-300MW of
ocean energy by 2020. In line with
this, two Marine Energy Parks
(MEPs) were launched last year to
drive the sector forward: the South West Marine Energy Park was
launched in January 2012 while the
Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters
Marine Energy Park kicked-off in
July 2012.
Another notable event in the past
year was Alstom’s acquisition of
Tidal Generation Limited (TGL), which is specialised in the design and
manufacture of marine stream tur-
bines (previously owned by Rolls-Royce). In 2012, TGL installed a 1MW
tidal turbine at the European Marine
Energy Centre’s (EMEC) full-scale
tidal test site in Orkney, Scotland.
Also, Siemens acquired all the shares
in Marine Current Turbines (MCT)in 2012. MCT is now operated as
a Siemens business under the Sie-
mens Solar & Hydro Division. Two
main projects are expected: the 8MW
Kyle Rhea project in Scotland and the
10MW farm at the Anglesey Skerries
in Wales.
Portugal is also a very active player
in the European market and in 2012
it was involved in many projects deal-
ing with diff erent kind of ocean energy
issues, such as MARINET (2011-2015),
TROPOS (2011-2015), SOWFIA (2010-
2012), FAME (2010-2012), WAVE-
PORT (2009-2012), DEMOWFLOAT
(2011-2014) and SEANERGY 2020
(2009-2012). Among the new projects
started in 2012, the Strategic Initia-
tive for Ocean Energy Development
(SI Ocean) is signifi cant, researching
the most eff ective way to tackle key
barriers to developing a commercial
Focus on renewable power generation
A notavle project in 2012 was Weptos, a pilot plant for developing and designing a commercial wave energy plant located in Fredericia, Denmark. Wepstos A/S says through its fl oating angular construction, its wave energy converter is able to regulate the wave energy input and reduce the impact during rough weather conditions. The V–shaped structure absorbs the wave energy through a line of rotors, which each of them transmits the energy to a common axle, directly attached to a generator. “This way, an even energy generation throughout the wave duration follows, enabling for other known generator solutions to be applied.” (Photo courtesys of Weptos A/S)
REF0413_Marine 42 30-07-2013 12:28:31
43July/August 2013 | Renewable Energy Focus
wave and tidal energy sector in
Europe. Another project initiated in
2012 was PolyWEC, looking at elec-
tro-active Polymers for Wave Energy
Conversion.
In Denmark, a new energy pol-
icy (2012-2020) came into force in
March 2012. It targets a 35% renew-
able energy share of electricity gen-
eration with a total investment of
€13mn with €3mn of that specifi cally
allocated to wave energy. There are
six projects being tested at the Dan-
WEC facilities.
The fi rst wave dragon test device
was installed in 2012 in Nissum,
Bredning. Wave Dragon is a fl oating,
slack-moored energy converter of the
overtopping type that can be deployed
in a single unit or in arrays of units in
groups resulting in a power plant with
a capacity comparable to traditional
fossil based power plants. Another
notable Danish project is Weptos, a
pilot plant for developing and design-
ing a commercial wave energy plant
located in Fredericia.
Moving to France, power sup-
ply in the country is dominated by
nuclear energy, which has a 75%
share of market. However, the French
Government has signalled a desire
to develop a marine renewables
industry – in March 2012 the France
Energies Marines (FEM) programme
was established with a budget set of
€133.3mn over 10 years.
Sweden also stepped forward
with the The Sotenäs Project which
started at the end of 2011. Once com-
pleted it will be the largest power
plant built in the world for wave
energy. The fi rst stage covers the con-
struction of 1MW, with the plant
eventually reaching a total installed
capacity of 10MW when the sec-
ond phase is fi nished. The Project is
funded by power company Fortum
and the Swedish Energy Agency.
In Ireland the fi nancial crisis
resulted in a slow down in the devel-
opment of ocean energy technologies
as a cutback in funding hit the sector.
The potential in Ireland is estimated
to be 29GW. Outside of Europe, China
is working on tidal energy. Projects in
progress include:
The 40 MW Rushan estuarine •
tidal power pre-feasibility study in
Shandong province;
The 20 MW Maluan Bay tidal •
power pre-feasibility study in
Fujian province; and
The 10 MW Bachimen tidal power •
pre-feasibility study in Fujian
In August 2012, the upgrade of the •
Jiangxia Tidal Power Plant began.
It will see the power of the turbine
increase from 500kW to 700kW.
It should be noted that these
Chinese plants are all using the
more conventional tidal barrage
technology.
Focus on renewable power generation
Governments are gaining confi dence in the wave and tidal sector, with new policies and funding programmes introduced to promote industry development and bring technol-ogy closer to a commercial maturity. (Photo: Shutterstock/Willyam Bradberry)
Cumulated installed
capacity 2012(MW)
Installed capacity 2012
(MW)
Estimated electricity
generation in 2012(TWh)
Europe 248.20 0.00 0.57
North America 20.30 0.00 0.05
South America 0.00 0.00 0
Asia 259.20 1.00 0.59
Oceania <0.01 0.00 0
Africa 0.00 0.00 0
World Total 527.70 1.00 1.21
Largest National Market Korea 254.00 Japan 1.00 Korea 0.58
Table 8: Summary of ocean energy installation status, end of 2012.
REF0413_Marine 43 30-07-2013 12:28:31