OES Annual Report 2012 - Ocean Energy Systems

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RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Government Funded R&D
The principal Government funding has been to a collaborative R&D research programme called Wave
Energy Technology – New Zealand (WET-NZ), collaboration between Industrial Research Limited (IRL) and
Power Projects Limited (PPL). A ½-scale device 20 kWp, called the MEDF device (named after the fund,
which enabled its fabrication and deployment), was deployed off Moa Point, Wellington, New Zealand
(Figure 1a) in May – June 2012 (after a 3-month trial off Akaroa Heads in late 2011). Due to problems
with the moorings the device was removed after 3 weeks and analysis is being completed to redesign the
moorings for redeployment in 2013.
a) b)
FIGURE 1: a) WET-NZ’s MEDF device off Akaroa Heads (2011) and b) its US device at the NNMREC test site, Oregon (August 2012)
Participation in Collaborative International Projects
In 2010, WET-NZ, together with US project manager, Northwest Energy Innovations, was awarded a grant
from US Department of Energy to build and deploy a 2 nd generation ½-scale 20 kWp device in Oregon
(Figure 1b). The US device was assembled in Newport, Oregon, in August 2012 and deployed at the
Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Centre’s test site off Newport, Oregon for six weeks from
23 August to 5 October.
In April 2012, the Aotearoa Wave and Tidal Energy Association (AWATEA) hosted its 6 th Annual Conference
with the theme of “Blue Energy: from International Vision to Reality”. The conference was run in conjunction
with a Marine Energy Mission, organized by the British High Commission in Wellington, which brought 12
UK companies to New Zealand. Subsequently, the NZ Ministry of Science and Innovation awarded 7 travel
grants to New Zealand companies to visit the UK companies in the UK and to establish working links.
TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION
Operational Ocean Energy Projects
As noted above, the only devices that have been deployed this year are WET-NZ’s ½-scale device at Moa
Point, Wellington and a similar but not identical WET-NZ ½-scale device deployed at NNMREC’s test site
off Newport, Oregon.
ANNUAL
REPORT 2012