| Technology & equipment


the cable corridor, approximately one kilometre offshore,” said Argo. “A messenger line was passed from an onshore winch to the Maersk Achiever, and then connected to a cable pull-in head. As the cable was being deployed buoyancy was attached to assist with the cable float into shore. Once onshore the cable was pulled through a pre-installed cable conduit running under the beach and into the on-land substation, while the remaining cable was deployed using an onboard cable tensioner. “During the lay operation, cable protection was added to provide additional mass where required for on-bottom stability. Various parameters were also monitored throughout including cable tension, cable departure angle and touch down monitoring. On completion a visual and positioning survey was carried out by a remotely operated vehicle. “The cable lay process is a notoriously challenging aspect for marine energy projects, with much planning required and adaption to weather windows and ocean conditions. We are thankful to our highly diligent and professional partners, including Maersk Supply Service for their close support throughout the operation entire.”


CorPower is now gearing up for the arrival of the C4


PTO (Power Take Off) system, which has completed a rigorous one-year dry test programme in Sweden. Once transported the PTO will be integrated with a composite hull, which was custom built at CorPower Ocean’s Portuguese base, in Viana do Castelo – home to its innovative Composite Hull Development Programme.


Having successfully completed tests to verify power conductors and fibre communication cores, the CorPower C4 WEC will later be fused to the cable through a quick-connect interface located at the anchor-head. While providing power connection to feed electricity to shore through the 7.2kV cable it will also deliver high speed communication to the wave farm through fibre optic cores.


Pilot concluded successfully CalWave Power Technologies, Inc. has recently


successfully concluded its open-ocean wave energy pilot after 10 months of continuous operation off the coast of San Diego. The project, which deployed in September 2021, was supported by a US Department of Energy (DOE) award with the goal to demonstrate CalWave’s scalable and patented xWave™ technology as a cost-effective, sustainable solution for energy generation. Not only does the demonstration represent California’s first at-sea, long-duration wave energy project, but it also serves as a critical step toward proving wave power as a commercially viable renewable resource. The pilot device, named x1™, has now been


recovered and decommissioned. Findings will be used to inform CalWave’s next grid-connected deployment, scheduled to occur at the federally- approved, 20-MW PacWave wave energy test site off the coast of Newport, Oregon. Wave energy has been assessed by experts as capable of supplying upwards of a third of global energy demand, yet the development of a viable technology capable of reliably withstanding harsh ocean conditions has been slow to evolve, until now. CalWave’s pilot verified its xWave™ system as effective


for overcoming the key challenges of performance, reliability, survivability, and cost. “Marine energy technologies – like CalWave’s


xWave – hold incredible potential to help transform our energy system in numerous ways, from serving as a resource on our nation’s grid to helping remote and coastal communities reduce their reliance on fossil fuels to powering ocean exploration and observation systems,” said Jennifer Garson, US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office Director. “CalWave’s successful deployment in California marks a critical step in their pathway to commercializing their wave energy system and is an important step forward in the marine energy industry’s efforts to demonstrate and deploy these technologies.” The x1™ achieved high performance as targeted


and predicted by CalWave’s advanced and laboratory-validated hydrodynamic simulations. The onboard controller took over full autonomous operations for roughly 80% of the operating time, ensuring high performance and shutdown during storms, leading to over 99% system uptime throughout the deployment. The power and data generated was exported via subsea cable to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) research pier. Based on high reliability of the system and zero


interventions during operations, the deployment was extended from six months to 10 months, and concluded as required by CalWave’s US DOE contract. The results of this pilot are critical for the advancement of CalWave’s x100™ and x800™ utility- scale classes of the xWave™. The fully-submerged xWave™ architecture enabled


the technology to survive several major storms, including two representative of the largest storms in a typical 10-year period for a utility-scale system. The unique wave load management mechanisms, comparable to pitch and yaw control in modern wind turbines, allowed for rapid and effective reduction of storm loads on all parts of the system, ultimately proving a cost-effective design without the need for expensive structural over-design. The x1™’s hull was protected by environmentally acceptable anti-corrosion and anti-biofouling coatings, in addition to sacrificial anodes, which added cathodic protection against corrosion for uncoated surfaces. While uncoated surfaces of the device did


experience bio-fouling, growth avoided moving interfaces and had no impact on operations. The advanced controller and onboard sensors enabled continuous health monitoring and remote inspections through a web-based portal. A U.S. Coast Guard compliant marker buoy ensured other ocean users’ safety. The third-party reviewed installation and recovery


procedures were executed flawlessly by the offshore operators, including the SIO operations team. Along with a third-party biological assessment, several state and federal permits ensured the safety of marine life. In collaboration with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s (PNNL) Triton Initiative—a project funded by WPTO to research environmental monitoring technologies and methods—the x1™ was observed with a Boxfish 360 video camera and f


www.waterpowermagazine.com | November 2022 | 31


Above: CorPower Ocean and Maersk Supply Service install subsea cable for HiWave-5 Project


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