OES Annual Report 2012 - Ocean Energy Systems

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04 / COUNTRY REPORTS
A feed-in tariff for electricity from wave and tidal energy similar to the tariff for small hydropower has been
available under the Renewable Energy Act since 2005. These figures were raised in 2009 to 11.67/kWh for
power plants below 500 kW and €0.0865/kWh up to 5 MW.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
In the public sector, around 15 R&D institutes and universities are involved into developing wave, tidal
current and osmotic power mainly in the framework of European research projects. The National funding
in the framework of the national energy research programme for renewable energies was approximately
€160 million in 2011. This programme is open to ocean energy research. Up to now, six technology projects
related to the development of components and concepts for tidal turbines and wave energy components
have been funded by the federal Environment Ministry (BMU) with a total amount of around €7 million.
The first two projects operating from 2001 to 2008 were related to the development of a tidal turbine concept
and components. Fraunhofer IWES (former ISET) and LTI Power Systems developed a pitch system, the
dynamic simulation, control engineering and new drive train concepts for marine current turbines, such as the
British Seagen concept, which was successfully installed in 2008. Siemens acquired the complete shareholding
of MCT in 2012, which is now operated as a Siemens business under the Siemens Solar & Hydro Division.
With this, tidal turbines have become a part of the Siemens energy technology portfolio. There are great
expectation about the realisation of the first two farm projects namely, the 8-MW-project Kyle Rhea in Scotland
and the 10-MW farm at the Anglesey Skerries in Wales. These sites have been leased by The Crown Estate.
From 2008 to 2011 another public funded project was executed by Voith Hydro Ocean Technologies
GmbH & Co. KG in cooperation with Loher GmbH for the development of a tidal turbine concept. It is
based on a fully submerged horizontal turbine equipped with a variable speed direct drive permanent
magnet generator and symmetrically shaped fixed blades which allow the operation in two opposite flow
directions. A first 110 kW pilot installation has been installed within 2011 at a site off the coast of South
Korea near the island of Jindo. This test facility was built as a 1:3 scale model and is used primarily to
demonstrate the new technology developments under real operating conditions. The turbine has a rotor
diameter of 5.3 m, and achieves a rated capacity of 110 kW with a current speed of 2.9 m/s. The test power
plant fully met the expectations of Voith’s engineers. The calculated power curves have been confirmed.
In addition, the system is able to keep the turbine running at the optimum power generation point at all
times, even in the exceptionally turbulent currents that occur at this location.
The Jindo power plant stands on a gravity base foundation due solely to its intrinsic weight. For recovery
during maintenance, a special recovery module on a drive chain slides down to the turbine nacelle, grasps
it from below and then lifts it out of the gravity structure. The nacelle is then lifted by winding up the guide
chains to the water surface.
A second device with 1 MW capacity is planned to be installed at the European Marine Energy Centre
(EMEC) for testing with funding from the UK Marine Renewables Proving Fund (MRPF). The construction
and installation of the full-size machine was the consequent continuation of Voith’s test program. It allows
the low-maintenance current turbine systems to be developed in a commercial size. With the exception
of a number of small modifications, the EMEC turbine is basically an up-scaled version of the system in
Jindo. The simplicity and sturdiness of the optimized system has been consistently maintained. The turbine
reaches its rated capacity of 1 MW at a current speed of 2.9 m/s. It has a rotor diameter of 16 m. Unlike
the Jindo turbine, the test system is mounted on to a monopile drilled into the seabed. The turbine rests
under its own weight on the support structure and is installed and removed with the help of crane ships.
Voith Hydro Ocean Current Technologies, Heidenheim, is a Center of Competence for the development of
ocean current power stations. Voith Hydro Ocean Current Technologies is an 80:20 joint venture with the
RWE Innogy Venture Capital Fund I.