SUREWAVE
Running
The SUREWAVE project aims to develop and test an innovative Floating Photo-Voltaic (FPV) system for offshore environments. The consists of an external floating breakwater structure made of new circular materials acting as a protection against severe wave loads on the FPV structure itself, allowing increased operational availability and energy output.
background
The European Offshore renewable energy strategy highlights the need for more established renewable energy technologies, and to diversify the technology portfolio to take maximum advantage of the vast potential offered by EU’s seas to become climate neutral by 2050. However, not all offshore renewable technologies are in the same stage of maturity. Floating Photo-Voltaic (FPV) is in the early R&D stage when it comes to open sea deployment (although already deployed in landlocked waters) and more development is needed. Experts have estimated that the total worldwide capacity of FPV could reach 62 GW by 2030. The limited deployment of offshore FPV is caused by the intrinsic characteristics of the marine environments (wind loads, wave loads, currents, corrosion, biofouling). The specific design and structure of the FPV influence its output power generation, durability and investment cost. Thus, offshore FPV systems need to be studied in detail (at the design, components, materials and structural levels) to ensure competitive offshore reliability, lifetime, easy installability and improved O&M, while considering economic, environmental, and social barriers.
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of SUREWAVE is to develop and test an innovative concept of Floating Photo-Voltaic (FPV) system consisting of an external floating breakwater structure made of new circular materials acting as a protection against severe wave loads on the FPV structure itself, allowing increased operational availability and energy output.
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of SUREWAVE is to develop and test an innovative concept of Floating Photo-Voltaic (FPV) system consisting of an external floating breakwater structure made of new circular materials acting as a protection against severe wave loads on the FPV structure itself, allowing increased operational availability and energy output.
Contact
Joep van der Zanden
Senior Project Manager
SCOPE
Starting from TRL2-3, with proven technology of FPV at inland lakes, the project team will develop a concept for scaling up FPV to open sea environments by designing a floating breakwater and mooring configuration. New circular materials for the breakwater will be developed for offshore deployment. The design will be evaluated and improved through a combination of wave basin tests, coupled hydro and aerodynamic calculations, and optimization algorithms. Towards operability and maintenance, a new structural health management system will be implemented to characterize fatigue cracks and other stress factors. A social lifecycle assessment will be adopted to evaluate the economic and societal impact. The final design will be tested at wave basin scale in MARIN’s facilities.
BUDGET & PLANNING
The project starts October 1, 2022 and will run for 3 years with a budget of 3,5 million euros.
PARTNERS
The project is coordinated by SINTEF (Norway). Other partners cooperating in this project are Sunlit Sea (Norway), CEIT (Spain), MARIN (Netherlands), Acciona Construction (Spain), Clement (Germany), the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU, Germany) and MARIN.
Starting from TRL2-3, with proven technology of FPV at inland lakes, the project team will develop a concept for scaling up FPV to open sea environments by designing a floating breakwater and mooring configuration. New circular materials for the breakwater will be developed for offshore deployment. The design will be evaluated and improved through a combination of wave basin tests, coupled hydro and aerodynamic calculations, and optimization algorithms. Towards operability and maintenance, a new structural health management system will be implemented to characterize fatigue cracks and other stress factors. A social lifecycle assessment will be adopted to evaluate the economic and societal impact. The final design will be tested at wave basin scale in MARIN’s facilities.
BUDGET & PLANNING
The project starts October 1, 2022 and will run for 3 years with a budget of 3,5 million euros.
PARTNERS
The project is coordinated by SINTEF (Norway). Other partners cooperating in this project are Sunlit Sea (Norway), CEIT (Spain), MARIN (Netherlands), Acciona Construction (Spain), Clement (Germany), the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU, Germany) and MARIN.
Horizon Europe
SUREWAVE acknowledges funding by the European Union through the Horizon Europe research programme under grant agreement No. 101083342.
For more information: www.surewave.eu
For more information: www.surewave.eu
A preliminary version of the integrated design was tested at scale 1:10 in MARIN’s Concept Basin. An excellent opportunity for the consortium to learn about the design’s hydrodynamic performance in operational and harsh environments!