Luís Gato, Instituto Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisbon

Lessons learned from the Galway Bay Seatrials of the EU funded CORES project

CORES – Components for Ocean Renewable Energy Systems

EU Research Project demonstrated to EU Commissioner25.11.2010 Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, visited the site in Galway docks earlier this week where the UCC Coordinated EU FP7 Research Project CORES is being assembled before extensive sea trials.

The €4.5m European Research Project - CORES funded by Commissioner Geoghegan - Quinn’s department. 

Coordinated by HMRC

Consortium of 13 Partners

SMEs, Industry and Research

Wave Systems and components (eg PTO)

3 month Sea trials 3.5 years €4.5m

Workpackages

WP2-Electrical

WP1 - Turbine

WP3 – Moorings, Risers& Deployment

WP4 – Modelling,System Integration &Field Trials

Air chamberBased on Floating OWC BUT most systems , components and methods are re-usable and rescalable in any ocean energy technology

Example Design, Test & Integration - Turbine

SPECIFICATION

Prelim Design

Model Testing

INTEGRATION

Design Studies

Detailed DesignFabrication

Gate – Continue or loop?

Electrical & Control Example

Hardware-in-the-Loop test bench at Tecnalia

– Test of Controller – Adjust settings of

Frequency converter– Test of control

software under different sea conditions

– Test of statemachine

Simulation Design

Project Phases

R&D, Plan, Design and build Integration & Test in Laboratory Installation in Galway Dockside Testing and setup Commissioning onshore and offshore SEATRIALS – Operation & Maintenance De-Commissioning Data Integration to wave to wire model

CORES Project: Testing

8

2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 0 - 0.5

60.3 134 78.45 66.2 68.75 81.9 107.05 87.75 35.8 0.5 - 1

2.1 79.1 241.45 182.75 60.85 25.4 33.25 17.2 13.7 1 - 1.5

0 0 18.75 161.4 102.75 16.7 11.35 1.3 0.1 1.5 - 2

0 0 0 0.8 42.95 55.95 3.7 0 0 2 - 2.5

0 0 0 0 0.3 11.25 5.65 0.55 0 2.5 - 3

0 0 0 0 0 0 2.85 2 0 3 - 3.5

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.25 1.6 0 3.5 - 4

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Scatter diagram: wave occurrence during the period of deployment

Rigorous test planSuccessful completion

despite ‘poor’ weather and some power issues

What did we get?

2064 hrs in the water, 816 hrs of data collected, 795 hrs of Hs > threshold for data collection

Validated turbine design – performed better than expected Validated electrical methodology & optimised control strategies Validated mooring loads Remote control, DAQ and HMI proven Cost effective data management strategy Validated wave to wire model No discernible environmental impact

Verified Design, Integration Testing and Sea Trial methodologies

Scalable Industrialised systems

Improvement of average efficiency

IP and Knowhow Generated

Mooring modelling and simulation – MCS Kenny, Exeter Mooring Instrumentation - Exeter Air Turbine aerodynamic design – IST Air turbine mechanical design – Kymaner Power take-off system design and build– UCC_HMRC, Fraunhofer IWES,

Tecnalia Onboard standalone microgrid, grid control design and build – UCC_HMRC,

QUB Control system design and operation – UCC_HMRC, Fraunhofer IWES,

Tecnalia, QUB Data acquisition QUB, UCC_HMRC System and instrumentation QUB, UCC_HMRC, Fraunhofer IWES System Integration – UCC_HMRC, Fraunhofer, QUB Onshore operation planning, and management – UCC_HMRC Offshore operation planning, and management – UCC_HMRC, OE Ltd Onshore commission, UCC QUB Kymaner Fraunhofer, Tecnalia Offshore commission & operation UCC Fraunhoffer, QUB Wave to Wire Model – WaVEC and most other

What did we Learn

The consortium is key – The team all had industrial experience.

Proper planning gives you measurable progress and targets – key PM tool.

Phased development and factory/dockside testing decreased risk – even so – expect problems and plan to react.

Scope boundaries and interface management cannot be underestimated from a physical, financial, insurance, operational and risk perspective.

An Industrial approach works - it is possible to complete a REAL SEA TRIAL of wave energy device ON-TIME and WITHIN BUDGET.

Thank you - questions