Wave power

BAE Systems, Aquamarine Power join forces for Oyster wave energy converter

Over 200 years ago, one Monsieur Girard in Paris attempted to convert ocean waves into electrical energy. Since then, attempts to harness the power of the ocean came and went with the ebb and flow of the oil crisis.

With the new wave of interest on renewables, will man be able to finally make most of the water around him?

Wave power is the transport of energy by ocean surface waves, and the capture of that energy for industrial uses such as electricity generation, water desalination, or the pumping of water into reservoirs.

How does it work? As the US-based Ocean Energy Council (OEC) puts it, “Waves get their energy from the wind. Wind comes from solar energy. Waves gather, store and transmit this energy thousands of miles with little loss. As long as the sun shines, wave energy will never be depleted. It varies in intensity, but it is available twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.”

Unlike dams, OEC says, wave power structures that are equally long-lived promise comparatively benign environmental effects. Wave power is renewable, green, pollution-free and environmentally invisible, if not beneficial, particularly offshore. Its net potential (resource minus “costs”) is equal to or better than wind, solar, small hydro or biomass power.

Wave power generation, however, is not currently a widely employed commercial technology, although there have been attempts at using it since at least 1890. And in 2008, the first experimental wave farm was opened in Portugal, at the Aguçadoura Wave Park.

And more recently, global defence, security and aerospace leader BAE Systems has joined forces with wave energy developer Aquamarine Power for a $1.6-million (£1m) project to deliver less expensive but more reliable sources of clean energy for homes across the UK and beyond.

For starters, the partners are looking into the large-scale commercial production of the Oyster wave energy converter. Match-funding the $724,387 (£450,000) grant awarded by the Technology Strategy Board, the partners launched into a 30-month research, development and demonstration project of the device, a buoyant hinged flap which attaches to the seabed and moves backwards and forwards in the near-shore waves, pumping high pressure water onshore to drive a hydro-electric turbine, which then generates electricity for the national grid.

Under this partnership, a number of BAE Systems engineers will shift focus from the design, repair and maintenance of complex naval systems to work with Aquamarine Power to develop an intelligent diagnostic system and remote ballasting mechanism. 

Together, these innovations will drive down maintenance costs and help to maximise energy production, paving the way for this ground-breaking technology to be rolled out on a commercial scale to establish Oyster clean energy farms around the world.

Kevin McLeod, Engineering Director at BAE Systems’ Surface Ships division, said the project is a great opportunity for the company to apply skills developed in naval design and the management of large complex maritime engineering programmes to support the emerging marine energy industry. He said, “In working with Aquamarine Power as a partner, we are helping to pioneer commercial clean energy solutions that will help the UK meet its ambitious climate change targets.”

The next step is to bring down the cost of electricity generated from wave power, said Martin McAdam, Chief Executive of Aquamarine Power.

The innovative Oyster technology is designed to be installed at around 10 metres depth, 0.5 kilometre from shore. Aquamarine Power has already installed and tested its Oyster 1 demonstration device at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland, where it generates electricity that is transmitted to the national grid to power homes in the local area. It is estimated that a farm of 20 next generation Oyster 2 devices will generate enough energy to power more than 12,000 homes.

“By 2050, we are going to have very different energy needs than we have today and we will be getting our energy from different sources,” said Ian Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board. “The UK is well placed to exploit wave and tidal stream energy resources with all of the coast line that we have, and it is expected this kind of technology will be an important part of the renewable energy mix needed in the future.”

But he stressed the need to find out which technological solutions would be best in harnessing marine energy. He also said there is a need to reduce costs to make the technology more competitive. He remarked, “So there are a range of technological challenges to address.”

BAE Systems is already involved in a number of initiatives to support the renewable energy sector. The defence company actively works with the wind farm industry to resolve issues about their disruption to radars. Its engineers designed the electrical distribution system for the largest land-based wind farm in Europe at Whitelee, and it is also working with partners to develop a deepwater offshore wind-farm design.

On the other hand, Aquamarine Power closed a $9.7-million (£6m) funding this year and has subsequently been awarded more than $4.8 million (£3m) from the Scottish government WATERS fund (Wave and Tidal Energy: Research, Development and Demonstration Support). The company is actively seeking a major investment partner and a strategic technology partner to take the Oyster device through to commercialisation.

In various energy and technology journals, the first known patent to convert ocean waves for energy was attributed to a Parisian named Monsieur Girard and his son; whilst the first known application of wave power was a device constructed around 1910 by Bochaux-Praceique, to light and power his house at Royan, near Bordeaux in France. It appears that this was the first Oscillating Water Column type of wave energy device.

In modern science, however, it is a former Japanese naval commander who is regarded as the father of modern wave energy technology. In the 1940s, Yoshio Masuda experimented on various concepts of wave energy devices at sea, with several hundred units used to power navigation lights. Amongst these was the concept of extracting power from the angular motion at the joints of an articulated raft, which was proposed in the 1950s by Masuda.

In response to the oil crisis, the technology was revisited by researchers, amongst them Professor Stephen Salter of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. His 1974 invention became known as Salter’s Duck or Nodding Duck, although it was officially referred to as the Edinburgh Duck. In small-scale controlled tests, the Duck’s curved cam-like body can stop 90% of wave motion and can convert 90% of that to electricity, with 81% efficiency.

In the 1980s, as the oil price went down, wave-energy projects ebbed away as funding was significantly decreased. Nevertheless, a few first-generation prototypes were tested at sea.

Today, however, with the heightened campaign on climate change adaptation, the worldwide pursuit for non-oil sources of power will hopefully bring more focus – and funding – on the commercialisation of wave energy devices.