Tidal Developer Collaboration to Tackle Foundation Mooring

CorPower and Sustainable Marine Energy join forces for a wave and tidal developer collaboration to develop and demonstrate generic foundation mooring solution to reduce cost and improve O&M methods.

The 35-month UMACK (Universal Mooring, Anchor & Connectivity Kit Demonstration) project will address ocean energy affordability, survivability, reliability and installation through the demonstration of a generic anchor-foundation-mooring-connectivity system which aims to reduce capital and installation costs by up to 50%.

UMACK is being funded by Scottish Enterprise and the Swedish Energy Agency with co-funding from the OCEANERA-NET COFUND (via the European Commission under Horizon 2020).

UMACK brings together leading wave and tidal energy developers, CPO (wave) and SME (tidal), mooring experts TTI Marine Renewables, the world’s leading ocean energy test and verification facility the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), and marine renewable energy modelling experts at the University of Edinburgh.

A user-group involving additional wave and tidal developers will be providing use-case guidance and have access to the results, to ensure sector wide impact from the project.

Led by CPO, the joint industry effort will develop and demonstrate a remotely operated, technology agnostic, quick connect, technical anchor and smart mooring system for multiple seabed types, applicable to a wide range of marine energy technologies.

This will be coupled with a streamlined marine operations strategy focused on simplifying vessel requirements, reducing cycle time for connection and retrieval of devices while increasing operational windows.

The project will also demonstrate how the improved strategies and reduced downtime afforded by the system will ultimately decrease the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) and increase energy return on investment.

The anchor solution will undergo an extensive verification and validation campaign including subsystem testing followed by open sea testing.

The UMACK system will be installed at a wave energy site and first demonstrated utilising an “empty” CPO C4 WEC hull. Following successful project delivery a PTO will be integrated into the C4 hull, and the UMACK system will be verified with an integrated WEC device.

Patrik Möller, CEO, CorPower Ocean said: “The UMACK solution will improve reliability, reduce marine energy’s LCOE and accelerate progression towards large scale commercialisation. Performing extensive pre-qualification of the wet subsystems prior to full device deployment is a novel approach to marine energy development aiming to significantly de-risk the overall project and bring best practice to the industry.”

Matthew Finn, Senior Business Development Manager, EMEC said: “Mooring solutions are a challenge across the industry, but aren’t inherently tied up in the IP of the marine energy converters being developed in the industry. It’s exciting to see two EMEC clients, from wave and tide, join forces to find a common solution that will benefit the wave and tidal energy sector more broadly.

“Additional potential lies in extending the technology to the floating offshore wind market increasing the opportunity to foster wide ranging costs savings beyond the scope of the involved partners even further.”