Funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme (€17 million), the Clean Energy From Ocean Waves (CEFOW) project aims to deploy advanced multiple wave energy converters with improved power generation capability and demonstrate that they are able to survive rough sea conditions over a number of years.
The Universities of Plymouth, Exeter and Uppsala will conduct environmental monitoring to aid the understanding of the ecological consequences of upscaling from single to multiple devices and contextualise device-specific ecological responses. The Universities of Plymouth and Exeter initially collected an extensive baseline data set from 2008 – 2015 from the Wave Hub test site in North Cornwall.
The project has since been relocated to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) wave energy test site in Orkney where surveys will take place from 2017 and continue for several years. Sampling involves the use of remote cameras to examine the relationship of the devices with the environment using indicators for multiple levels of the host ecosystem including sessile and mobile benthic organisms, fish and mobile predators. At a time when the UK marine energy industry is poised to grow considerably, the CEFOW project represents a unique opportunity to take an international lead in benthic, demersal and pelagic research associated with renewable wave energy installations.
Led by Fortum, CEFOW is supported by a range of project partners with a vast amount of expertise in onshore renewable energy:
Fortum: Fortum, a multi-national energy utility, believes that a transition to a solar economy, where energy production is based solely on renewable energy sources, is inevitable, although gradual. As an inexhaustible and emissions-free energy form, wave power can play an important role in the future, and that is why it is also a key focus area in Fortum’s research and development work. Fortum is responsible for coordinating the CEFOW project which will take place at the EMEC test facility, where Fortum has signed a leasing agreement for a grid connected wave power array.
Wello: Finnish wave energy device developer Wello has already developed and successfully tested a single Penguin device at EMEC in Scotland in 2013. The Penguin device is one of the most advanced devices today, when measured in terms of power conversion capability and survivability. Penguin is also the only semi-permanently deployed megawatt scale floating wave energy converter. The CEFOW project will see three Penguin devices deployed at EMEC starting in 2017.
EMEC: The three Penguin WECs will be deployed at EMEC’s grid-connected wave test site at Billia Croo, off the west coast of Orkney, Scotland. In addition to being the test site of choice for the CEFOW project, EMEC are also leading the dissemination and communications activities for the project.
Green Marine: Green Marine’s involvement in the CEFOW project is to design a safe & cost effective installation and maintenance plan along with the other partners. Green Marine will be responsible for installing the mooring infrastructure, cabling and installing the Penguin devices onsite along with ongoing maintenance over the full term of the project, using our own vessels and experienced crews.
This project has received €17 million funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 655594.
