All of the papers are available on request, so please contact us if you require further information.

Leybourne, M.T., Batten, W.M.J., Bahaj, A.S., Minns, N., and O’Nians, J., (2011) Preliminary design of the OWEL wave energy converter commercial demonstrator. World Renewable Energy Congress, Linköping, Sweden.

Leybourne, M.T., Batten, W.M.J., Bahaj, A.S., O’Nians, J., and Minns, N., (2010) Experimental and Computational Modelling of the OWEL Wave Energy Converter. 3rd International Conference on Ocean Energy, Bilbao, Spain.

Leybourne, M.T., Batten, W.M.J., Bahaj, A.S., O’Nians, J., and Minns, N., (2009) A Parametric Experimental Study of the 2D Performance of a Ducted Wave Energy Converter. 8th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Uppsala, Sweden.

Leybourne, M.T., Batten, W.M.J., Bahaj, A.S., O’Nians, J., and Traylor, H., (2008) Preliminary Findings from a Laboratory Scale Model of a Ducted Wave Energy Converter, 10th World Renewable Energy Congress, Glasgow, UK.

Kemp, J., Derrick, A., O’Nians, J., and Upadhyay, D., (2005) The OWEL Wave Energy Converter as a Platform for Combined Wave and Wind Power Generation. 6th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Glasgow, UK.

OWEL has also recently been through a final round of optimisation, using a physical model, prior to the detailed design of the device.

By making some small adjustments to the shape of the duct and its supporting structure, significant improvements in performance have been achieved.

Performance Improvement Through Geometry Optimisation

These improvements in efficiency will scale up, so the performance of the demonstrator will also be improved. The final tank tests in March at the University of Southampton will define exactly how much improvement has been gained and this will be used to predict full scale output.

Watch this space for more news.

Ned Minns, CTO

OWEL holds the patents for the underlying technology and is now engaged on an equity funding-round as a part of the commercialisation of the business.

The OWEL floating device is designed to take advantage of the high energy density of deep water ocean waves, and subsequent machines will be built as platforms made up of adjacent ducts moored to the sea bed and open to incoming waves at one end.

The waves repeatedly compress air trapped within the ducts which is directed to drive turbines that will generate electricity.

The advantage of this design is its simplicity and robustness, using tried and tested components and production methods. It has few moving parts, none of which are in the water, so it will be highly reliable.

The wave energy converter is being developed by Offshore Wave Energy Limited (OWEL) in conjunction with IT Power, a leader in new tidal and wave energy technologies. OWEL has assembled a world class consortium of experts to develop the marine demonstrator. They are:

OWEL – technical and project management
IT Power – lead engineer
Gifford - structural engineer
A&P Falmouth - shipbuilder
Mojo Maritime – mooring design and deployment
Narec – electrical and electronic design
University of Plymouth – control system
National Physical Laboratory – sensor equipment
Det Norske Veritas – marine standards and certification

Following extensive experimentation and modelling, the project team will now build and test a

42 metre long marine demonstrator with a target rating of 500kW of electricity. It will be tested at the Wave Hub facility off the north coast of Cornwall. A similar commercial machine deployed in open seas will have a rating of 1MW.

The Technology Strategy Board is providing £2.5 million of funding for this development stage and the consortium is also seeking further private finance.

This development phase will demonstrate the performance of a large scale OWEL unit and its ability to be deployed at sea and connected to the grid. The project will also deliver a costed, full scale commercial design accredited by Det Norske Veritas which has provided certification of wind, tidal and wave energy converters for many years.

For further information:

Ned Minns, Chief Technical Officer,OWEL
Tel: 01172 140518
nminns@owel.co.uk

John Rudofsky
Helsen Communications
Tel: 020 8786 6699

Notes to editors:

OWEL

OWEL is a company founded by the inventor, Professor John Kemp, to develop a proprietary wave energy converter for use around the world. IT Power is now the majority shareholder, with the rest of the shares distributed between Narec and a number of private individuals. Following successes at the proof of concept stage, proof of scalability, and a further round of performance optimisation, OWEL has now begun the final phase of development before it releases a commercial machine.

IT Power

IT Power is a leading international sustainable energy consultancy providing world class expertise and services. The company has 30 years experience in renewable energy and low carbon solutions. IT Power offers a complete range of services including resource assessments, energy planning and strategy, feasibility studies, due diligence, design and installation, commissioning and monitoring. IT Power provides expert advice to local and regional governments, national government departments, the European Commission, financial institutions and private companies.

A copy of the paper can be found here

IT Power and OWEL will be joined in the development of the device demonstrator by a consortium of organisations that, between them, bring together the wealth of experience needed to successfully deliver a project of this nature. The organisations involved include Gifford, Narec, NPL, DNV, A&P Shipbuilders, Mojo Maritime and PRIMaRE.

Director, Professor John Kemp, explains that the OWEL WEC uses the horizontal component of wave action to compress the air in successive wave troughs and thence to drive a turbine. A target efficiency of 30% for wave to air power conversion, combined with 80% for air to electrical power conversion would provide a wave to wire efficiency of some 25%.

These figures, together with the low capital costs and particularly low operational costs of the OWEL WECs allow the production of electrical power at a price that is comparable to offshore wind turbines, – estimated at around £100 per MWh in the Carbon Trust Publication “Offshore Wind Power”.

Tank-testing trials of 1:40 scale Grampus models recently conducted at the University of Southampton have measured wave to air power conversion efficiencies exceeding the target figure over a range of sea states. Further tank-testing and mathematical modelling is planned and it is expected that similar efficiencies can be reproduced at full scale for the broad range of sea-states to be expected at typical Atlantic Arc deployment sites. Any increase above the original target figure for efficiency means that an OWEL platform will be able to produce power at significantly lower cost than offshore wind.

Professor Kemp is quick to point out that he does not see OWEL platforms as being in competition with offshore wind. In fact, the platforms will be able to host wind turbines at a fraction of the cost of providing the wind turbines with dedicated supports. Diversifying sources of renewable energy significantly improves the overall reliability and security of supply.

Offshore Wave Energy Ltd (OWEL) in association with IT Power Ltd is continuing research and development for the unique OWEL device with support from the South-West Regional Development Agency. On completion of the present phase, at the end of 2009, OWEL will be poised to commence the construction and testing of a seagoing prototype. At that stage, there will be further investment opportunities.

A small scale model was tested in a wave flume at the University of Southampton and was used to examine a number of different geometric configurations. The optimised design performed well and wave to air power conversion efficiencies exceeding the target figure were measured over a range of sea states. The performance of the optimised geometry was later confirmed during an extensive series of small scale testing in the wave basin at the Hydraulic and Maritime Research Centre (HMRC) in Cork, Ireland. The results confirmed the commercially viable efficiencies in polychromatic and multidirectional with promising projected p/kWh figures achieved. Results have also increased the understanding of the dynamics of the platform and how they can be used to improve performance and survivability. In addition, a computational model was developed and validated by the results from the wave basin testing. This was used as a design tool and method to predict the performance of a device at larger scales.

The results from all of the models have fed into the creation of a techno-economic model and are central in the design of the proposed, large scale, ocean demonstrator.

Invented by Professor John Kemp, and originally revealed in the April 2003 edition of Eureka, the intention is to come up with an optimised full scale design of the machine.

Running alongside a long term physical and mathematical modelling research programme in the Department of Engineering at the University of Southampton, the new study will focus on the internal configuration in order to maximise performance and efficiency. At the same time, it will also consider mooring, survivability, fatigue, and production and manufacturing methods and approaches. This will involve a hydrodynamics programme involving comprehensive CFD modelling and a series of tank tests in a selected wave basin.