Capturing waves
Wave Energy is a technology business that develop, design and provide unique solutions to utilize the enormous power in the waves to produce electricity.
Waves crashing into the Danish coastline contain large amounts of energy. Wave Energy plan to capture this energy in a power plant in Hnastholm (Photo: Nbpetersen / Creative Commons)
Wave Energy was established in 2004, is based in Norway with an office in Tananger on the west coast of Norway. One of the fundamental challenges in wave power generation is that installations must be able to withstand extreme weather conditions and resist seawater corrosion. Wave Energy´s technology and design solutions are based on the importance of structure survivability and system reliability. The concept design is simple and robust and the main structure protects the power production equipment from the wave forces, enabling production of power, even at extreme weather conditions.
MULTI RESERVOIR TECHNOLOGY
Our SSG™ technology (Sea-wave Slot-cone Generator) is based on the overtopping principle where the waves are captured inside a reservoir. The water runs through a turbine which in turn runs a generator that produces electricity. The amount of power generated is determined by how high above sea level the water is stored, i.e. how high the reservoir´s crest level is above sea level.
EFFICIENCY
One of the main challenges in wave energy devices is to fully utilize the whole specter of different wave heights to obtain a high degree of efficiency. To address this Wave Energy has patented the use of several reservoirs placed above each other. The water will run up a slope in front of the structure and into the different reservoirs. The height of the wave will determine how high up the water will be stored. The bigger waves the higher up the water will be stored and the more power it will produce. The smaller waves stored in the lowest reservoir, will produce less power but they will ensure production continuity, even at lower sea states. This multi level reservoir principle enables us to fully utilize the whole specter of wave heights which results in high system efficiency.
ROUGH ENVIRONMENTS
The key factors in the design of the SSG™ structure are the robust and simple solutions that can withstand the rough marine environment. Main focuses are system reliability, survivability and long lifetime.
The turbine and the control gates are the only moving parts exposed to the sea water. This reduces the operational failure risk and minimizes the system maintenance requirements.
A full scale implementation of the consept is currently under cunstruction at the port of Hanstholm.
Further reading
Folder about Wave Energy (PDF)
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