MARINE RENEWABLES
IRONMAN TEST FOR WAVE CONVERTER
A commercial scale Wave Energy Converter will undergo intensive ’Ironman’ testing ahead of ocean deployment, The Ironman testing will put CorPower Ocean’s next-generation C4 WEC into two weeks of continuous operation on the world’s largest wave energy test rig in Sweden. ”We are excited to proceed to the final stage of our comprehensive dry-test campaign,” said Antoine Baudoin, CorPower Project lead. “In particular, we will be monitoring how the air characteristic changes within the pretension cylinders as they elevate in temperature, in order to better manage high thermal stress and maximise performance.” FINE TUNING Rigorous tests will involve exposure to all sea states including severe storm conditions in order to monitor its durability and unique ‘survival mode’, alongside high thermal stress. It will allow further interrogation of CorPower’s novel WaveSpring technology which works in resonance with waves to enhance motion amplitude and energy generation.
26 | FEBRUARY 2022
Allowing time for minor upgrades, the WEC is then set to be transported to northern Portugal taking a central role in CorPower’s flagship HiWave-5 demonstration project. Mr Baudoin said the Ironman testing follows two months of initial testing in 2021 which produced highly valuable data informing recent upgrades to debug, stabilise and fine-tune the machine. The 45-tonne test rig, located at CorPower’s Stockholm headquarters, is capable of simulating ocean wave conditions anywhere in the world. Measuring 40m in length and 9m in width, the design, build and accreditation was supported by ABB. “The testing infrastructure we required simply didn’t exist beforehand, so we built and accredited the world’s largest wave energy test
8 CorPower Ocean’s next-generation C4 WEC will be tested on the world’s largest wave energy test rig in Sweden
rig to complete the project,” said Mr Baudoin. “The test rig has played an invaluable role delivering a broad range of isolated tests on individual modules and equipment through to these final high-level Ironman Tests for the complete integrated system.” For the last decade CorPower has been steadily undergoing a rigorous five-stage product development and verification process, which initially started with small scale tests in Portugal and France. It later progressed to a half-scale WEC prototype, which also underwent dry-rig testing prior to sea trials in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, in partnership with utility firm Iberdrola.
We are excited to proceed to the final stage of our comprehensive dry-test campaign. In particular, we will be monitoring how the air characteristic changes within the pretension cylinders as they elevate in temperature, in order to better manage high thermal stress and maximise performance
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