Scenario Creation Tool

Overview

The scenario creation tool provides a structured method for the earliest stages of design in technology development. The core function of the scenario creation tool is to generate and rank scenarios of potential Wave Energy Converter (WEC) attributes and inform the user on the areas of the parameter space that are most likely to yield commercial success.

This techno-economic tool uses a structured innovation approach to identify commercially attractive and technically achievable scenarios, with a scoring system based on their power performance and costs. This is done by leveraging performance and cost data from state-of-the-art wave energy converters and identifying theoretical limits to define thresholds. As a result, a list of scored solutions is obtained depending on resource level, wave energy converter hull shape, size, material, degree of freedom for power extraction, and efficiency.

This scenario creation tool can be used to support private and public investors to inform strategy for future funding calls, and technology developers and researchers in identifying new avenues of innovation.

The power of the tool is the physics, engineering and economics relationships defined which work to provide a ranking for each scenario based on calculated scores for ‘commercial attractiveness’ and ‘technical achievability’. The unique aspect of the tool is that the user can start with a ‘blank piece of paper’, when there is no initial design or concept, and it generates attractive and achievable solutions. These support the user in proceeding to develop the scenarios into concepts, initial design and on to more detailed design.

The critical part is that using this structured approach from the very beginning of technology development increases the likelihood of success by not being reliant on a stroke of genius or predefined bias about which designs are favourable.