A&P Falmouth has been awarded a contract by Seatricity to build a wave energy device to be deployed at the offshore renewable test facility Wave Hub.
A&P Falmouth, in Falmouth, UK, will manufacture, fabricate, and assemble the wave energy converting device, Oceanus 2, out of marine-grade aluminium. Work will start this week.
Oceanus 2 will be deployed in spring 2014, and if successful, it will pave the way for the manufacture of a further 60 devices. Seatricity plans to develop a full-scale 10MW grid-connected array over the next two years at Wave Hub, some 10 miles off the coast of Hayle, Cornwall.
The device is a 10m-diameter floating ring, with cross tubes, which travels up and down with the waves, operating a pump to pressurize sea water, which then drives a hydroelectric turbine to produce electricity.
The float is tethered to blocks on the seabed and the pumps are linked together to generate highly pressurised water. The pressurized sea water can also be used to produce fresh water by the reverse osmosis desalination process. Fresh water and electricity can be produced simultaneously.
Peter Mitchell, managing director of Seatricity, said: “Our first generation Oceanus 1 device has undergone extensive and successful sea trials in Scotland and we are ready to make the next step with the Oceanus 2. The technology is scalable so, once we complete our testing at Wave Hub this year, we hope to move quickly to a full array."
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