OES Annual Report 2012 - Ocean Energy Systems

53
04 / COUNTRY REPORTS
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Government Funded R&D
The goal of the DOE Water Power Program investment strategy is to compress the MHK technology
development timeline to approximately 10 years. Through targeted investments and the Technology Readiness
Level (TRL) process, the Program helps advance developing MHK technologies toward technological maturity.
TRLs are used by numerous federal agencies and private sector companies to assess the maturity of evolving
technologies. TRLs 1-4 are focused on R&D, TRLs 5-8 are focused on early technology demonstration, and
TRLs 9&10 are focused on full-scale prototypes, array deployments, and commercialization.
In 2012 DOE continued its efforts to develop six computational “Reference Models” (RM) designed to
establish baseline costs of energy (COE) for 6 standard MHK device designs. In this sense, a “Reference
Model” primarily serves as a cost model for a reference device design. A comprehensive cost model is
constructed by: (1) creating numerical models to evaluate performance and structural loads, (2) performing
a reference resource site-assessment including energy intensity, and environmental siting and permitting,
(3) developing a concept-level design, and (4) developing a cost and economic assessment of the
technology at different deployment scales. Results will be verified and improved through subscale testing
of each reference device and data-correlation with industry project deployments of real devices of similar
archetype. Through this process, key cost drivers will become apparent and cost reduction pathways will
be identified. The 6 chosen device types are:
RM1 – Dual Rotor Axial Tidal Current Turbine
RM2 – Dual Rotor Crossflow River Current Turbine
RM3 – WEC Point Absorber
RM4 – Ocean Current Axial Turbine
RM5 – Moored Oscillating Surge Device
RM6 – WEC Oscillating Water Column
Reports for RMs 1-3 are nearing completion and will be published in early 2013. Development of RM4
is complete and the final report is being drafted. RMs 5 and 6 are under way and will be completed by the
end of 2013.
This past year DOE also completed an MHK testing infrastructure assessment for wave and current
technologies to identify capability gaps, prioritize needs, estimate costs, and guide the Program’s investment
strategy. After performing a global survey of existing MHK testing facilities, the assessment identified
the following U.S. infrastructure needs: an open water test berth, a controlled-conditions, deep-water
wave tank, and an oscillating drivetrain simulator. Following the results of this study, efforts are currently
underway to develop the infrastructure necessary to close these gaps. The open water test berth will be a
fully energetic site for TRL 7/8 demonstration of grid connected devices and eventually arrays. The deepwater
wave tank (10-20 m depth) will create a controlled, repeatable testing environment for systematic
trials with 1/5th scale wave energy devices at 1 m wave heights. The drivetrain simulator for power takeoff
component testing will analyze rotary or linear systems based on function, power performance, and
component safety.
Furthermore, the Program also launched a new collaborative initiative to develop a numerical modeling
package to simulate wave energy converters (WECSim). This joint venture by the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) and other code developers will produce a
quick-running open source code for assessing energy capture and power performance for multiple WEC
geometries in an ‘operational’ (non-storm) wave climate. The WECsim modeling package will be made
robust and reliable through verification by comparison with other similar codes and validation using
comprehensive data sets. Upon completion and validation, WECSim will be made publicly available.