Aquamarine Power (“Aquamarine” or the “Company”) one of the world’s leading wave energy companies today announces the successful test results from its Oyster® wave energy converter (“Oyster®”). The device has now produced and exported electricity to the grid at the New and Renewable Energy Centre (“NaREC”) near Newcastle, for the first time.
By producing electricity onshore on a full scale test rig, Aquamarine has proven that Oyster® can deliver electricity on a commercial scale. The output from a single pumping cylinder delivered over 170kW of electricity proving that a full scale device, with two pumping cylinders, will deliver well in excess of the modeled output of 350kW.
Oyster® is unique in that it starts generating electricity in almost calm sea conditions and can continue generating even in the worst of storms, making large scale commercial success more achievable for Aquamarine than for many of its competitors.
NaREC is a leading research and development testing platform for new, sustainable and renewable energy technologies. Oyster® is put through a rigorous testing process which simulates a variety of sea conditions. The tests ensure the viability of the technology and reliability and robustness of all components.
Testing commenced at NaREC in March this year and will continue until the end of April during which time Aquamarine is optimising the system settings, testing different components in terms of performance and fatigue and obtaining operational experience whilst importantly producing predicted quantities of electricity. The test rig is driven by a hydraulic power pack hired from Pelamis Wave Power. The hydraulic rams drive the Oyster cylinder to produce high pressure water which is fed into a Pelton wheel that is connected to a generator to produce electricity.
Installation of the full scale machine at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney is scheduled for this summer. Aquamarine already has an agreement with Airtricity, the renewable energy division of Scottish and Southern Energy to develop sites capable of hosting 1,000MW of marine energy by 2020 suitable for deployment of Oyster®.
Martin McAdam, Chief Executive of Aquamarine commented: “Oyster® is revolutionary in its field and what we are seeing is total proof that it can deliver commercially viable electricity. I am very proud of the team at Aquamarine, who have worked incredibly hard to deliver this result.
“We have always had total confidence in Oyster® and I am exceptionally happy that this achievement will allow us to take the next step in its deployment, a ground-breaking development in the UK. Aquamarine is forging ahead in order to deliver our mission to make marine renewable energy mainstream.
These tests prove that we can have a single machine delivering up to a half a megawatt of power and that a farm of these machines can deliver utility scale power in the order of hundreds of megawatts.”
McAdam added, “The successful production of power is a testament to all involved in the renewable energy industry. Making this happen involved an array of companies and partners including Frazer Nash who designed the rig, Howco who built it, Pelamis who hired out one of their hydraulic power packs and NaREC who hosted the test. If the UK or Scotland wants a marine industry, we have proven that the companies and people are there to deliver it. This is the birth of an industry.”