Rising to the challenge
Andrew Baldock of Black & Veatch answers some key questions from energy engineering about the challenges facing the marine energy sector
EE: Is there an appropriate level of funding to take prototypes through to market?
AB: The UK has very favourable resources of renewable energy which includes the already explored offshore and onshore wind and the huge potential of wave and tidal energy off the shores of our island. To reflect this, public sector funding organisations are heavily active in the marine energy sector, with the Carbon Trust, and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) providing potential public funding routes for developers whilst additional support can be provided by the private sector.
It has been apparent over recent years that there were few funding opportunities for devices that had completed robust R&D studies and are therefore sufficiently developed for demonstration but are not yet commercially ready. Although the Government’s Marine Renewable Deployment Fund (MRDF) scheme has been set-up for the construction and operation of early stage commercial projects, the ‘key step’ between R&D and the MRDF has had no take-up by developers owing to an onerous qualification criteria. However, acknowledging this funding gap, the Marine Renewable Proving Fund (MRPF) has been designed and managed by the Carbon Trust to accelerate the most promising technologies towards the MRDF and thus commercial deployment. With this in place, the funding landscape for UK developers can be considered amongst the most attractive in the world.
EE: Why does it take so long to develop and commercially deploy devices?
AB: Wave and tidal stream energy devices are generally complex machines which incorporate various structures and mechanical and electrical sub-systems; all interlinked by state-of-the-art control systems. When such innovative technologies are deployed in the aggressive marine environment they can experience a wide range of challenges resulting from technical malfunctions through to difficulties associated with the physical deployment and retrieval of the device itself, with which experience is currently limited. The resolution, or mitigation, of these challenges is critical to enable a reliable and optimised level of power generation to be achieved whilst also minimising the risk of significant damage or failure which may have crippling repercussions to this growing industry. It is the rigorous R&D activities throughout the development process that are carried out by developers to identify and remedy potential challenges that can take a great deal of time, yet their resolution is essential in order to develop a commercially attractive technology and a low risk proposition for investment propositions. Fortunately, to assist developers in progressing their technologies from the conceptual stage through to full-scale prototype deployment, the UK offers an enviable portfolio of testing centres ranging from smaller testing facilities available in various universities and research institutions, through to the specialist New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC) in Blyth, European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney and the proposed Wave Hub facility off the coast of Cornwell. Therefore the UK can be considered amongst the world leaders in offering expert support to help developers to overcome various obstacles to achieve their goal for full-scale commercial deployment.
B&V has also identified overarching commercial pressures, perhaps imposed by investors, for the perceived delay in development. Under such pressures, developers may agree to deliver to an unrealistic time frame, therefore implementing a streamlined approach to development whereby key activities may be overlooked, or not sufficiently investigated. In doing so, this increases the likelihood of issues occurring at later stages of development in which corrective actions may have a far more adverse impact on cost and programme. With this in mind, B&V believes that the industry must best learn to ‘manage expectation’ in terms of the development time frame given the challenges that developers face. It is through adhering to a fully developed route map that is understood by all parties concerned that a realistic time frame can be set in place with the risk of any potential issue being identified at an early stage and the appropriate means of mitigation investigated.
EE: What are your own organisations key aims, objectives and ambitions within the wave and tidal sector.
AB: Black and Veatch (B&V) is a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company, specialising in infrastructure development in the field of energy, water and information. The B&V corporate objective is to “build a world of difference” which is appropriate for our Renewable Energy team given our commitment to help develop and promote technologies, such as wave and tidal stream, to help meet the world’s energy needs whilst reducing reliance on fossil fuels and thus reducing carbon emissions.
B&V has been involved in the exciting arena of wave and tidal energy technologies since 1975 and our UK Renewable Energy team has developed a detailed understanding of the engineering, performance and economics of various wave and tidal stream energy technologies. Using our innovation, value engineering, and bespoke key parameter optimisation programmes, we work with technology developers to prioritise areas for design development, in order to increase performance and decrease costs. Our expertise and capabilities includes:
• Resource assessment
• Concept development
• Feasibility Studies
• Technology development
• Project development
• Basic and detailed design
• Environmental permitting
• Cost-of-energy optimisation
• Programme management
• Due diligence
Having been key contributors to the Carbon Trust’s Marine Energy Challenge and Marine Energy Accelerator programmes, B&V is currently leading the Technical Services Team (TST) which undertook the due diligence on the applicants to, and is providing ongoing technical advice and verification activities on the successful technology developers in the Carbon Trust’s Marine Renewable Proving Fund (MRPF). In addition to undertaking many studies for a variety of funding organisations and utility companies, B&V has worked directly with wave and tidal stream technology developers at varying stages of their development, from very early concept stage through to those who are testing full-scale devices.
In addition to tidal stream and wave technologies, B&V has world-leading experience and expertise in tidal barrage projects which is underlined by our significant involvement on various UK projects for the Department of Energy during the late 1970s through to our significant contribution to the current Severn tidal barrage feasibility study. B&V has also acted as Independent Engineer to undertake an assessment of potential Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) facilities.
EE: What are likely to be the key developments in the sector in the next 5, 10 and 20 years?
AB: To date, progress on wave and tidal stream technologies has been tentative rather than flamboyant which reflects the challenges to successfully deploy and operate devices in such aggressive environments. However, many of the leading developers have, or soon plan to, deploy large scale devices in real seas and can be considered trail blazers for the sector. With the experience being gained with the deployment of large scale devices, many of the challenges associated with the aggressive environmental conditions (i.e. large loadings and difficulties in deploying and retrieving devices) and potential project specific activities (i.e. site investigation and environment permitting), have been identified and investigated. Therefore, as more and more large scale devices are deployed, then the greater the understanding of their behaviour which will yield more reliable and optimal technologies in the future.
Although current focus in the sector is placed on the development of technologies, B&V foresee the following key developments in the sector over the next 20 years:
• Focus on the optimisation of farms of devices including studies into reliable electrical connections between devices and the development of suitable supporting infrastructure (i.e. quay side facilities and assembly yards).
• Improvement of the grid network capacity.
• The development of streamlined installation and retrieval techniques that are less sensitive to environmental conditions and less reliant on the use of specialist vessels (and equipment).
• The development of more responsive Instrumentation, Control and Automation systems to better optimise power generation and improve the survival characteristics of technologies
• The development of more efficient and reliable generator units.
Although there is currently no dedicated definitive standard for the design of such new and complex technologies, the current guidelines that have been developed by EMEC and published by the British Standards Institution (BSi) are a clear sign of progress in this regard. Indeed, a number of international standards are currently being developed by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and B&V is pleased to be providing UK experts to represent the BSi in the development of these standards for ‘tidal resource assessment’ and ‘design requirements for marine energy systems’ as well as providing the project team leader for the ‘tidal resource assessment’ standard.
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