POSEIDON : the hybrid wind and wave system tested at sea with an intelligent control system.

LOLLAND - (Denmark) -  26/10/2011 - Marine Renewable Energy Ltd.
Original Article by Francis Rousseau  - translated and edited by Christopher Longmore

The  POSEIDON hybrid technology wind/wave system was invented a dozen years ago. A prototype has been in the sea for two years and has now been linked to the Danish grid by Floating Power Plant. The company continues to offer further proof of its dynamism. Floating Power Plant has now teamed up with Critical Software to develop a control system to mount on the test platform at sea. 

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CURRENT POWER SWEDEN : a vertical tidal turbine

(STOCKHOLM - Sweden) - 25 /10/2011 - Marine Renewable Energy Ltd
Original Article by Francis Rousseau  - translated and edited by Christopher Longmore

This is a vertical axis tidal turbine directly linked to a synchronous fixed magnet generator, based on the same prnciples as the Vertiwind turbine and the tidal turbine HARVEST - similar but adapted to a marine environment.

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UK Government to adjust renewable energy subsidies

 

London - (United Kingdom)

26/10/2011

Article by Christopher LONGMORE for Marine Renewable Energy Ltd

The amount of support to offshore wind will decline over the next five years, it will be cut less than had been planned, under the proposals put out for consultation today. Under the plans, smaller-scale wave and tidal stream projects, which harness the flow of the tide, would receive many times more support than other types of renewable energy in a bid to encourage those technologies. Illustrated is a wave power unit currently being installed for Stewart Island and the Raz de Sein off the French Brittany coast - an area rich in untapped wave and tidal power.

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SKYSAILS POWER :High Altitude Wind Energy

BRISTOL-  (United Kingdom)
21/10/2011 - Marine Renewable Energy
Original Article by Francis Rousseau  - translated and edited by Christopher Longmore

A few weeks ago, GL Garrad Hassan,  a subsidiary of Germanischer Lloyd, one of the most highly regarded consutancy practices in the field of renewable energy - particularly marine renewables -  published the first report ever into a little known technology: High Altitude Wind Energy (HAWE). This exhaustive report analyses both the potential of high altitude wind energy and current technologies, their level of development, and market potential, as well as the technical and reglementary challenges to this emerging industry that further pushes back the frontiers of offshore wind. It seems that among the 20 companies involved, one, Skysails, often mentioned here, is the best placed for the future.

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LANGLEE WAVE POWER installs a wave power plant in New Zealand.

STEWART ISLAND - (New Zealand) -  20/10/2011 - Mer-Veille-MRE
Original Article by Francis Rousseau  - translated and edited by Christopher Longmore
Anxious not to get left behind by its Australian neighbour in the field of renewable energy, New Zealand is increasing the marine energy projects off its shores:

• 600m dollars for Crest Energy 200 x 1.2 Mw tidal turbines project off Kaipara Harbour
• 1.8m dollars for a wave energy project with the Norwegian Langlee Wave Power and Tangaroa Energy intended to power Stewart Island by 2013.

 These projects have been under way for some months now, but as is the case all over the world, recent government financial aid suddenly made them visible to the numerous possible investors all over the world.

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NAUTICA WINDPOWER : a new idea in floating wind turbines

LAKE ERIE-  (USA) - 19/10/2011 - Mer-veille-MRE
Original Article by Francis Rousseau  - translated and edited by Christopher Longmore

Nautica Windpower has recently been selected by the American Department of Energy (DOE) in the context of its aid program for technical innovation. This program is intended to support initiatives that may help reduce the costs of energy produced by future deep water American offshore wind farms. This is precisely the sector occupied by Nautica Windpower in the USA, that has developed for this particular environment a totally new concept and design of floating twin blade turbine capable of deep water installation - the AFT (Advanced Floating Turbine).

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PARISTECH : Masters Degree in "Science and Technology of Renewable Energy"

 
PARIS - (France) -  17/10/2011 -- Mer-Veille/Marine Renewable Energy
Original Article by  Francis Rousseau, translated and edited by Christopher Longmore.

 ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology) announced this week that it is offering a Masters degree in "The Science and Technology of Renewable Energies" in partnership with Total and the École Polytechnique, and with the support of EDF, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Saint Gobain and Schneider Electric. This top level course directed by the world class Ecole Polytechnique is addressed to students from all over the world that have graduated from world class universities in engineering, mechanics, or physics. They can handle some 40 professionals or researchers in the fields of generation, storage, and distribution of different types of renewable energies including MRE (Marine Renewable Energy).

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DCNS, Fortum, & AW Energy team up for wave power in France

PARIS - (France ) - 13/11/2011 - Mer-Veille-MRE -

Original article by Francis Rousseau  - translated and adapted by Christopher Longmore

On October 11 2011, DCNS (a sponsor of our publications) signed a letter of intent with the Norwegian giant FORTUM stating their intention to launch a joint feasability study into the viabiity of a pilot project of wave power electricty generation in France. FORTUM specialises in both nuclear and renewables power generation. DCNS hitherto a global giant in naval ship-building, thus becomes the only industrial group in the world with interests in ALL the marine renewable energy sectors,  from floating offshore wind turbines (Winflo), tidal turbines (OpenHydro),  Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), civilian under-sea nuclear with the revolutionary under-sea nuclear power station Flexblue, and now wave power. Capitalising on its know-how, industrial strength, and expertise, DCNS covers the whole gamut of these new energy production systems from their design, to construction and later their maintenance.

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Last January, DCNS took an 8% stake in the Irish company OpenHydro, who are world leaders in the tidal turbine field (see articles of 20 july 2011,  24 august 2011 et 1 september 2011). That deal allowed the two companies to converge their skills in the tidal turbine market. DCNS is also planning to develop and build a 10Mw ocean thermal energy plant in Martinique (see article of 29 november 2010), and to supply the island of Reunion with a land based prototype ocean thermal energy generator (article of 9 september 2011). Among the wave power systems involved in the letter of intent DCNS signed with FORTUM, one seems to stand out - the AW Power Wave Roller® that we described in 2008 and 2009 and again in 2010 (see. article of 29 June 2010). 

In thier Joint Press Release published on 11/10/2011, (surprisingly only available in French),  DCNS and FORTUM enthused that the project was in line with the ambitions of both companies.  Thus Bernard Planchais, Managing Director of DCNS, said in  substance  "DCNS has all the skills to bring the appropriate industrial solutions to FORTUM (...) DCNS is ready and determined to play a major role in this market working alongside FORTUM on projects the precursors of  full industrial deployment.". Matti Ruotsala, Executive Vice-President of FORTUM, for his part insisted on the fact that  "The potential of wave energy justifies the investment in research into such power stations. We are convinced that wave energy is going to play an important role in the next generation of renewable energy systems. To work on the pilot demonstrator project for wave energy in France in the coming months will allow us to make considerable progress in R & D for the future of this energy source".

DCNS, with a workforce of 12,500, turnover of €2,5Bn and the winner of the Trophée national de l’entreprise citoyenne under the patronage of the President of the French Senate features here often and is well known throughout France, but the same is not true of the Norwegian FORTUM, almost unknown in France. Born in 1998 of the fusion of the two Norwegian companies Imatran Voima (IVO) and Neste Oyj, FORTUM has a payroll of 10,585 and its 2010 turnover was €6.3Bn - (Source: Fortum). Mainly specialised in the development of renewable energy power stations based on nuclear technology, hydraulics, geothermal, and onshore wind in North and East Europe, since 2007, the group has been actively involved in wave power.  They have participated in the construction of pilot projects in Sweden and Portugal. In 2010, 86% of the energy produced by FORTUM in Europe was free of CO2 emissions. This was lso why FORTUM decided to participate in the calls for tender for the renewal of the hydroelectric concessions in France, as was announced at the end of 2010. 

Fortum's interest in the potential of wave power has taken it in two technical directions: surface wave technology (under study in Sweden) and deep water wave technology (under study in Portugal). This last technology was developed in close co-oepration with the Finnish company AW Energy that invented and patented the Wave Roller® technology. It is this that is considered to be "an option that could be used in the project to be developed in France by Fortum and DCNS ". It is therefore worthy of further study. The Wave Roller® energy recovery system, first mentioned here in 2008 with other technologies then little known obtained a €3m EU grant in the context of the 7th Framework plan (2007-2013). (See. article of 5 October 2009) (French only) and started to generate wider interest. The prototype deployed at Peniche (Portugal) is of 3 x100 kv (voir photo left) and was destined to be installed in between 10 and 25 metres of water depth. Nothing is visible above the water or from the beach. There is no perceptible noise generated, and the process although very simple (or maybe precislely because it is so simple) has been designed to need no toxic or polluting lubricant. To carry out this Portuguese trial successfully, AW-Energy surrounded itself with European company heavyweights like Bosch-Rexroth and ABB, world leaders in energy and automation technologies, and also with national champions like the Portuguese Eneolica. With regard to the technology itself, we have often told the story but it retains all its original freshness. In 1993 the finnish diver Rauno Koivusaari, while exploring a wreck was struck by the regular movement imparted by the swell to a heavy metal door. Rauno wondered if the energy that moved such a heavy door could not be exploited for other purposes. Of this good idea were born in April and July 2008 the first two Wave Roller® prototypes - a kind of heavy door fixed to the seabed, the regular movement of which indeed started to generate electricity. Details here. 

As well as the story, this leads to the reflection concerning the overall marked preferences all over the world for this kind of "panel" wave power unit, like the famous Oyster of the British Aquamarine Power or the equally famous BioWAVE of the Australian BioPower Systems. This choice is being made to the detriment of the  OWC (Oscillating Water Column), like Wave Buoy, submerged or partly submerged like Powerbuoy from Ocean Power Technologies or CETO from Carnegie Wave Energy or even Pelamis Wave to mention but the most famous and most tested to date. The surface invisibility of the panel systems may perhaps be the explanation, but each technology has its pros and cons and the jury is still out.

Sources:  Sites linked and mentionned.
Photos1: Wave Roller Operational Principals ©AW Energy. 2 :  Artist's impression of Wave Roller © AW Energy. 3.  Wave Roller Panel ©AW Energy. 4  Wave Roller 3x100 kv system ©AW Energy 5. Buoy system © FORTUM

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Bottom Wave Generator : a wave powered electricty generator.

NEWPORT BEACH - (California- Etats-Unis) -12/10/2011 - Mer-Veille-MRE

Original article by Francis Rousseau. Edited and translated by Christopher Longmore

While some engineers continue to develop highly complex systems to recover energy from the sea, others, thankfully, are still focussed on improving systems so simple and ingenious that they leave you gasping. This is the case with the Bottom Wave Generator, developed by the American company Green Wave Energy Corp, generous with videos to illustrate its invention! It consists of a cylindrical tube held vertically in the water. Like all tubes kept vertical in a liquid that is moving, water rises and falls generating electiricity as it does so. Simple, but someone had to think of it, and then actually put it into practice. As of now such a device exisits, and... it works, and, according to its buiilder, costs but US$20.000 per unit.

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EOLE-RES and IBERDROLA : partnership to bid for French offshore wind farms.

AVIGNON - (France) - 10/10/2011 - Mer-Veille-MRE

Original Article by Francis Rousseau - edited and translated by Christopher Longmore.

In a joint Press Release, the French company EOLE-RES based in Avignon, and the Spanish giant multi-national Iberdrola announced last week that they has signed an exclusive partnership agreement to respond to the calls for tender in two of the five zones designated by the French government in July.

EOLE-RES  thus jions the consortium initiated by Iberdrola Renovables even before the calls for tender were issued (see. article of 1 july 2011) with the French companies  Areva Wind and  Technip, an engineering and construction company already heavily involved in the exploitation of vertical axis offshore wind farms. (see article of 20 january 2011) (french only). They plan to tender for the zones off St. Brieuc (Côte d'Armor) and that off Saint Nazaire for a combined installed capacity of between 900 and 1,250Mw






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GE : superconductivity for a new generation of offshore turbines

NISKAYUNA - (United States) - 07/10/2011 - Mer-Veille-MRE
Original Article by Francis Rousseau  - edited and adapted by Christopher Longmore.

A the end of this summer, GE finally authorised one of its researchers, Ruben Fair, to reveal part of the direction of the research being undertaken by the Machine Labs of GE Global Research at Niskayuna since the beginning of December 2010. The announcement coincides with GE announcing that it's GE Global Research lab was to receive funding of US$3m from the US Department of Energy to complete its research program into a new generation of offshore turbines based on superconductivity. This would facilitate the construction of 15Mw offshore turbines.


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Bay of Fundy - (Canada) -  06/10/2011 - 3B Conseils-Mer-Veille-MRE -
Orignial Article by Francis Rousseau  - translated and adapted by Christopher Longmore.

It`s at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre (FORCE) in the Bay of Fundy that Marine Current Turbines (MCT) will soon be testing the latest of its Seagen tidal turbines - the U-Seagen. MCT's choice of location is partly explained by the fact that the Bay of Fundy centre, with the colossal weight of water that rushes in and out of Minas Passage, is the ideal testing ground for tidal turbines. If it stands up to this, there's a good chance that it will stand up to anything else! It's a sort of Canadian version of the pioneeering EMEC in northern Scotland, that is used by many French companies including Alstom, but also Atlantis Resources and OpenHydro use it to test their units in the quest to ensure that tidal turbines are genuinely competitive in the renewable energies market.


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Novel High Performance Energy-Storage Membrane

Original Article from ScienceDaily edited and adapted by Christopher LONGMORE for MRE.

A team from the National University of Singapore's Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative (NUSNNI), led by principle investigator Dr Xie Xian Ning, has developed a novel energy-storage membrane.

Electrical energy storage and its management are becoming urgent issues due to climate change and energy shortage. Existing technologies such as rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors are based on complicated configurations including liquid electrolytes, and suffer from difficulties in scaling-up and high fabrication costs. There is also growing public concern and awareness of the impact of traditional energy sources on the environment, spurring a continued search for alternative, green, sustainable energy sources, particularly marine renewables.


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CARNEGIE WAVE ENERGY delivers a Ceto4 to Reunion.

SAINT-PIERRE-  (Reunion- France) -  30/09/2011 - 3B Conseils-Mer-Veille-MRE -
Original article by Francis Rousseau, edited and translated by Christopher Longmore
The Australian marine technologies developer Marine Carnegie Wave Energy has just delivered the first of its fourth generation machines - the  Ceto 4 - to the island of Reunion.

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