Monday 4 June 2018

Marine Power Systems (MPS) has successfully completed the assembly and commissioning of its PowerBuoy; a grid simulator designed to operate alongside the quarter scale prototype WaveSub wave energy converter. The PowerBuoy will enable MPS to analyse the WaveSub’s energy generational capacity across a broad range of sea states. Located at marine test site FaBTest in Cornwall, the successful assembly and commissioning of the PowerBuoy precedes the installation of the quarter scale WaveSub in the coming weeks.

Designed by MPS with support from with British and Irish contractors including LCF Marine, Fibaform, SevernSubsea and MjR, the PowerBuoy will be connected to the WaveSub by a power cable, or power umbilical. The PowerBuoy will be capable of recording and collating key data sets, transmitting them back to shore for analysis as well as allowing the device to be remotely operated from land.

A WaveDataBuoy, also deployed at the FaBTest site and operating independently of the PowerBuoy will relay information on the current sea state to the MPS team on shore. This will allow MPS to make valued comparisons of power output for actual sea states with advanced modelling simulations from desk-based studies and tank testing data. Data from the WaveDataBuoy will also allow the WaveSub to be manoeuvred by the PowerBuoy into an optimum power-generation location within the water column.

For the last decade, MPS has developed the WaveSub using more than £5m of funding secured through private investment and highly competitive grants. MPS believe that with continued support and investment, wave energy will become a significant player in the UK renewables market, offering a competitive price for energy as well as enabling the UK government to reach its legally binding low carbon commitments. The UK wave energy sector is currently world leading and in a recent Catapult report was predicted to be worth a net cumulative benefit to the UK of £4billion, employing over 8,000 people by 2040.