Scottish start-up Mocean Energy is using technology developed by the University of Edinburgh to provide the power take-off for its wave energy generator prototype.
The university has developed C-GEN, a direct-drive generator that operates efficiently across a wide range of wave conditions.
In January this year Mocean secured €3.6m from Wave Energy Scotland (WES) to develop and build a half-scale prototype of its Blue Horizon wave machine (pictured), which will be deployed in the Scottish Orkney isles next year.
Mocean Energy and a team from the University of Edinburgh will build a test rig, which will be tested at a specialist facility in Rosyth, to test the C-GEN power take-off process, using representative wave data.
The same device will then be installed in Mocean’s half-scale prototype which will be made in Scotland later this year.
The company’s Blue Horizon device is based on a floating hinged structure, which flexes in two dimensions via a relatively slow-moving single hinge.
Mocean managing director Cameron McNatt said: “C-GEN is a good match for us because it delivers high efficiencies in the right range of speeds.
“Our test programme will ensure we optimise the performance of both technologies to extract the maximum mechanical energy from our operational machine.”
University of Edinburgh professor Markus Mueller added: “This programme will allow us to industrialise the design and manufacture of C-GEN for marine renewable applications and demonstrate C-GEN in a real environment, at a relevant scale and under realistic load profiles.”
The University of Edinburgh has also been working with WES in a separate project to develop and demonstrate the C-GEN technology.