Australian marine developer Protean Wave Energy has contracted compatriot consultancy EcoFin Solutions to assess its technology.
EcoFin and its Portuguese partner WaveEC Offshore Renewables will devise a numerical model to determine the potential energy output of the Protean wave device over time and to test potential optimisation of the design.
The model will feed into the development study, which is currently underway.
The study will include an evaluation of actual compressed air power production from the Protean’s demonstration wave farm off Western Australia’s Port of Bunbury against the expected output.
The model will completed ahead of a pre-feasibility assessment targeting Protean’s first commercial wave farm.
One of the tools EcoFin and WaveEC will deploy is a ‘wave-to-wire model’ computer simulation, which models the entire energy chain conversion, from the device’s interaction with the hydrodynamic wave force in the ocean through to the electricity produced.
The wave-to-wire model will evaluate various power take off modules including electrical generation and water desalination as well as overall performance of the device in any given ocean environment.
Image: Protean wave energy converter (Protean Wave Energy)
