Wave Energy Cluster Concept Design report

Overview

Floating offshore wind projects, as seen in the ScotWind leasing round, are moving towards deeper water locations with significant wave climates, such as off the north and west coasts of Scotland. Economic modelling by Offshore Wind Consultants on behalf of WES suggests that sharing space, infrastructure, services and supply chain with offshore wind developments can significantly reduce the cost of wave energy. 

Research conducted by WES at the University of Edinburgh’s FloWave facility revealed no significant loss of performance is expected for wave energy converters placed relatively close together.

These findings encouraged WES to seek a design concept for clustering individual wave energy devices together in a way that allows them to be moored and electrically connected as a single entity. While a cluster structure will incur additional cost, WES believes there are benefits that offset this.  Advantages include greater capacity density on congested seabeds, fewer moorings, shorter device tethers, reduced dynamic cable lengths, a local equipment room for shared subsystems, improved offshore operations and maintenance opportunities, and an electrical output better suited for integration with floating offshore wind.

WES commissioned Blackfish Engineering Design to help create and explore multiple possible design options to determine if a practical and economically viable solution for clustering WECs could be identified.