| Wave & tidal power
to deploy our technology at a greater pace than we would otherwise.”
Bombora said it is working to unlock the
environmental and economic potential held within the oceans and seas and, as the International Energy Agency states, there is a vast untapped potential here that could deliver 10% of global electricity needs by 2050. “There’s a vast amount of wave energy out there and we think we’ve got a great solution for tapping into that and providing a large amount of clean renewable energy,” Rigg said. “Net zero targets are very ambitious and we are working in a field that will help deliver these targets.”
mWave technology Bombora’s mWave technology has taken nine years
to develop. Built to generate utility scale power it consists of a series of cell modules. Each cell module is covered by large rubber membrane, contains air, and is connected to a central duct which pipes air to the turbine. The mWave unit sits below the water surface and as
waves roll overhead cell modules experience a difference in hydrostatic pressure. Cell modules under the peak of the wave will see higher hydrostatic pressure than those under the trough of the wave. That difference in hydrostatic pressure causes air to flow around the circuit at very high speed which turns the turbine and generator and effectively keeps the lights on. “The industry has been working on wave energy for a long time now and this mostly hasn’t been a successful undertaking. Our technology is very novel,”
Rigg claimed. “For one thing it sits below the surface so is much better protected from some of the extreme loading that the ocean can throw at these marine energy devices. While the only moving parts exposed to the ocean are these big rubber membranes that are really robust and tolerant of any waves coming from any direction. “So, we’re confident that we have a solution that will
address the challenges that have thwarted the industry up until now. And we’re really excited about the deployment of the first full scale mWave off the coast of Pembrokeshire later this year.” Speaking in June 2021, Rigg explained that all
different parts of the mWave machinery are in the Pembrokeshire workshop in Wales and the vast majority are now assembled. Bombora will go through a very detailed testing process and will operate the machinery as completely as possible on land, in a dry controlled environment to debug any issues that may lurk within. A whole series of simulated operations will be run through, activating pumps and sensors, before starting the load out later this year. Rigg said they will validate all computational models which will enable them to move forward on their other projects and, he is in no doubt, they will learn a significant amount from this first full scale deployment. “This project gives us an exceptional opportunity to demonstrate that the technology does what we say it is going to do,” Rigg continued. “It will be operating in a real ocean environment and operating throughout the winter and so will see some fairly significant sea status. We will be able to demonstrate the machine generating the power we’ve predicted it will.” f
Left: TechnipFMC and Bombora’s InSPIRE project is developing a hybrid system of combined floating wind and wave power targeting a generating capacity of 18MW
www.waterpowermagazine.com | October 2021 | 37
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
