RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
WAVE-DRIVEN SEAWATER PUMP DEMONSTRATION
Atmocean will demonstrate its wave- driven seawater pump this September at the Lord’s Cove test facility operated by College of North Atlantic in Newfoundland, Canada. The effort will see Atmocean connect its seawater pump to the college’s pilot integrated multi-trophic aquaculture system, currently rated capacity of one half ton of salmon per year. By operating throughout the harsh winter months, Atmocean will be able to assess durability and maintenance requirements, as well as pressure and flow output.
COMMERCIAL DEPLOYMENTS Following testing in Newfoundland, Atmocean expects to achieve commercial deployments by end of 2019 in southern Peru where it has teamed with a land and development partner interested in using the pressurized seawater for both sustainable aquaculture and desalination.
Atmocean, Inc. is a New Mexico-based company founded in 2006 to develop wave energy systems. The company has raised $3.5 million from angel
investors and co-workers to date, supporting several design iterations including full-scale manufacturing of prototype seawater pumps, over 100 days of ocean testing, five sets of wave tank tests and eight years of technical support from Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.
Atmocean INSTREAM TURBULENCE KIT DEPLOYED ON EMEC MONITORING POD
The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has redeployed its bespoke Integrated Monitoring Pod, fitted with innovative turbulence instruments to help measure the impact of turbulence on tidal energy devices.
Prior to deployment, the pod was fitted with a MicroRider turbulence system designed by Rockland Scientific, a Canadian company specialising in marine turbulence. The sensor system combines standard flow measurement technology (acoustic and electro-magnetic) with novel non-acoustic measurement technology (shear probes).
INTEGRATION OF NEW INSTRUMENTS Integration of the new instruments on the pod has been made possible thanks to the InSTREAM (In Situ Turbulence Replication Evaluation And Measurement) project, funded through a transatlantic partnership between the Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA), a Nova Scotian not-for-profit research group and Innovate UK, the UK Government’s business and innovation organisation. Aiming to improve the industry’s understanding of turbulence, the project will enable tidal energy developers to optimise design so that technologies can withstand the effects of strong tides and currents. Led by Rockland Scientific, the
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www.wavetidalergynetwork.co.uk
InSTREAM project brings together UK-based FloWave TT, Ocean Array Systems and EMEC, and Canadian companies Dalhousie University and Black Rock Tidal Power.
ADDRESSING SHORTCOMINGS Commenting on the successful deployment, Peter Stern, Vice President of Engineering at Rockland Scientific, said: “The flow through tidal passages is, by nature, extremely turbulent and this flow speed variability affects the reliability and efficiency of tidal stream turbines. Accurate measurement and numerical modelling of turbulence is therefore vital for designing and deploying tidal technology, as well as assessing the risk and cost of operations.
“The InSTREAM project is addressing the shortcomings of existing measurement instrumentation to allow ‘real-world’ field measurements to be down-translated to tank-scale and vice-versa, providing developers and manufacturers the ability to evaluate the dynamic behaviours of sites and turbine designs at model scale and full-scale.” He continued: “The results from this applied research project will address technical challenges that ultimately reduce uncertainties in site design, yield assessments, and device design, reducing operational and economic risk.” The project is being carried out in both
UK and Canadian waters – at EMEC, and at FORCE in Nova Scotia, Canada. Tests have already been completed at the University of Edinburgh’s FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility which can replicate tidal characteristics found at EMEC’s Fall of Warness tidal test site in Orkney where the Pod has been deployed. The site experiences tides of up to 4m/s, or eight knots, at peak tide. Donald Sinclair, Engineering
Technician at EMEC, oversaw the latest deployment: “The pod was successfully deployed during a recent period of neap tides in a short weather window and is now feeding live data back to our data control centres in Stromness and Eday via a subsea cable. We’re delighted to see it back in the water with the new InSTREAM instrumentation.”
PLUG-AND-PLAY PROTOTYPE The pod has been designed as a plug-and-play prototype with the ability to install additional sensors as required. In addition to the turbulence monitoring system, the Pod has undergone further improvements since it’s last deployment, with new Valeport current sensors installed alongside a recovery system developed by a local marine contractor, Leask Marine, which negates the need for divers operating in a tidal situation.
EMEC
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