Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SEA-TITAN (SEA-TITAN: Surging Energy Absorption Through Increasing Thrust And efficieNcy)
Reporting period: 2019-10-01 to 2021-09-30
The SEA-TITAN project aims at making a step change in the wave energy sector by designing, building, testing and validating a crosscutting and innovative Direct Drive Power Take-Off (PTO) solution to be used with multiple types of wave energy converter. The design will be based on the existing Wedge Global W200 PTO prototype and will focus on augmenting its specific force density and efficiency to levels which can significantly increase the energy capture in many types of Wave Energy Converters. These enhancements will also solve one of the key issues with WEC PTO systems, namely achieving sufficiently high peak force to limit hitting end-stops during large waves whilst maintaining high efficiency and low cost for the average wave case.
The performance and reliability demanded by wave energy systems exceeds the normal capabilities of commercial, off the shelf components commonly used in other industries. In the few cases where they are suitable, the costs often prove prohibitive. In addition, the lack of predominant PTO technology is causing a barrier to establishing a dedicated supply chain.
Currently each original equipment manufacturer system has different requirements, and pursuing the development of bespoke components not only limits the utility of the end product but also multiplies the development costs.
The objective of SEA TITAN proposal is to break this practice and to develop an optimized crosscutting power takeoff based on the existing switched reluctance linear generator from Wedge Global with application to multiple systems through collaboration with multiple wave energy developers and an industrial partner with a strong track record on technology. In addition this proposal aims to offer the developed technology open source to promote update and accelerate innovation.
The overall objective of the SEA-TITAN project is to make a step change in the wave energy sector by designing, building, testing and validating an innovative second generation Direct Drive Linear Electric Generator Power Take-Off solution: an Azimuthal Multitranslator Linear Switched Reluctance Machine (AMSRM). This development is based on a new configuration and geometry of a first generation Multitranslator Linear Switched Reluctance Machine developed by some of the proponents some years ago. The development aims at achieving high continuous and peak force densities and also high efficiencies with application to multiple wave energy conversion technologies through collaboration with different wave energy developers and industrial partners with strong track record on technology.
A high peak force for short intervals is critical to the overall PTO functions and in particular to end-stop control, whilst higher overall force density is essential to allow WECs to take advantage of advanced control strategies and to maximize energy capture from large sea-states in a wider range of wave periods. Nevertheless high force values with poor efficiencies are useless, since most of the extra captured energy would be lost in the PTO.
A given Wave Energy Converter (WEC) has a theoretical limit of energy extraction capability, which depends on the control strategy, the wave parameters, the available force, etc. A useful indicator that will be explained later in section 1.3 is the Integrated Power Capture Ratio (IPCR), which reflects the relative energy that can be captured with a WEC including a real PTO compared to a WEC including an ideal PTO with no force limit and 100% efficiency. As it will be shown later, IPCR is very sensitive to the PTO force and will be considered as one key indicator to define the project goals. This solution will also contribute to reduce significantly the Levelized Cost-of-Energy (LCOE) of any WEC based on the proposed PTO system. Also Capital Expenditure (CapEx) can be reduced, at the time the overall system efficiency (Float-to-Wire Efficiency (FtWE)) can be augmented. The term FtWE is defined as the ratio between the mechanical energy absorbed by the WEC and the electricity fed into the grid.
The performance and reliability demanded by wave energy systems exceeds the normal capabilities of commercial, off the shelf components commonly used in other industries. In the few cases where they are suitable, the costs often prove prohibitive. In addition, the lack of predominant PTO technology is causing a barrier to establishing a dedicated supply chain.
Currently each original equipment manufacturer system has different requirements, and pursuing the development of bespoke components not only limits the utility of the end product but also multiplies the development costs.
The objective of SEA TITAN proposal is to break this practice and to develop an optimized crosscutting power takeoff based on the existing switched reluctance linear generator from Wedge Global with application to multiple systems through collaboration with multiple wave energy developers and an industrial partner with a strong track record on technology. In addition this proposal aims to offer the developed technology open source to promote update and accelerate innovation.
The overall objective of the SEA-TITAN project is to make a step change in the wave energy sector by designing, building, testing and validating an innovative second generation Direct Drive Linear Electric Generator Power Take-Off solution: an Azimuthal Multitranslator Linear Switched Reluctance Machine (AMSRM). This development is based on a new configuration and geometry of a first generation Multitranslator Linear Switched Reluctance Machine developed by some of the proponents some years ago. The development aims at achieving high continuous and peak force densities and also high efficiencies with application to multiple wave energy conversion technologies through collaboration with different wave energy developers and industrial partners with strong track record on technology.
A high peak force for short intervals is critical to the overall PTO functions and in particular to end-stop control, whilst higher overall force density is essential to allow WECs to take advantage of advanced control strategies and to maximize energy capture from large sea-states in a wider range of wave periods. Nevertheless high force values with poor efficiencies are useless, since most of the extra captured energy would be lost in the PTO.
A given Wave Energy Converter (WEC) has a theoretical limit of energy extraction capability, which depends on the control strategy, the wave parameters, the available force, etc. A useful indicator that will be explained later in section 1.3 is the Integrated Power Capture Ratio (IPCR), which reflects the relative energy that can be captured with a WEC including a real PTO compared to a WEC including an ideal PTO with no force limit and 100% efficiency. As it will be shown later, IPCR is very sensitive to the PTO force and will be considered as one key indicator to define the project goals. This solution will also contribute to reduce significantly the Levelized Cost-of-Energy (LCOE) of any WEC based on the proposed PTO system. Also Capital Expenditure (CapEx) can be reduced, at the time the overall system efficiency (Float-to-Wire Efficiency (FtWE)) can be augmented. The term FtWE is defined as the ratio between the mechanical energy absorbed by the WEC and the electricity fed into the grid.
SEA-TITAN project ends in September 2021 with every objective of the action and tasks marked as completed, all of the deliverables have been submitted and milestones achieved. As a result of the action a second generation Azimuthal Multitranslator Switched Reluctance Machine (AMSRM) has been manufactured, tested and validated in laboratory, a third generation Superconducting Switched Reluctance Machine (SSRM) has been designed and evaluated, two new standards (CWA) were developed as a reference for the industry and the concept of open hardware business model was evolved. All expected key performance indicators (KPI) were analysed and results show a slight variation from the initial estimations, among these indicators, the LCOE which is the most representative when trying to compare with SET plan objectives shows a good alignment with values ranging from 30c€/kWh to a more distant 100+c€/kWh depending mainly in the location (available resource). RP2 face some challenges in some of this WP around the COVID pandemic and common difficulties in the manufacturing of first of a kind products, solved with and amendment and some additional deviations without affecting the objectives. No further actions are required as part of SEA-TITAN project (ID764014), but additional efforts will be employed by most of the partners to keep exploiting the results of the project given the relevance of the technology and results. The exploitable results and exploitation strategy are part of WP7 and detailed in deliverable D7.2 – Exploitation strategy. SEA-TITAN promotion achieved great results during RP2 as explained in WP7, we were nominated to 2 project awards, recognized as a success story, developed 2 standards and published a great number of public and technical papers, all details in D7.1 - Dissemination plan and D7.3 - Communication plan.
SEA-TITAN developed a new crosscutting PTO solution, based on the concept of an azimuthal multitranslator switched reluctance, which is a simple, able to provide a high force value, compatible with a good number of WEC technologies, and scalable in terms of power and cost effective. Validated impacts during the action includes: 1. REDUCE THE TECHNOLOGICAL RISKS FOR THE NEXT DEVELOPMENT STAGES. 2. SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED TECHNOLOGY PERFORMANCE. 3. REDUCING LIFE-CYCLE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT. 4. NURTURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDUSTRIAL CAPACITY TO PRODUCE COMPONENTS AND SYSTEMS AND OPENING OF NEW OPPORTUNITIES. 5. CONTRIBUTING TO THE STRENGTHENING THE EUROPEAN INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY BASE, THEREBY CREATING GROWTH AND JOBS IN EUROPE. 6. REDUCING RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES INSTALLATION TIME AND COST AND/OR OPERATIONAL COSTS, HENCE EASING THE DEPLOYMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES WITHIN THE ENERGY MIX. 7. INCREASING THE RELIABILITY AND LIFETIME WHILE DECREASING OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE COSTS, HENCE CREATING NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES. 8. CONTRIBUTING TO SOLVING THE GLOBAL CLIMATE AND ENERGY CHALLENGES