A £2 million collaborative demonstrator project has integrated wave power and subsea energy storage to power subsea equipment in the north of Scotland.
In its third phase, the Renewables for Subsea Power (RSP) project has connected the Mocean Energy-built Blue X wave energy converter with a Halo underwater battery developed by energy management specialist, Verlume.
Halo’s fundamental basis is its integrated energy management system, Axonn, which maximises battery capacity in real time.
Andy Martin, chief commercial officer at Verlume said: “This offshore test programme is the pinnacle of the success to date in this project, we are very much looking forward to the Halo being deployed. The testing will provide a great opportunity to gather high quality performance and operational data which will support the further electrification of the subsea sector.”
Deployed at sea 5km east of Orkney, the two technologies have begun a minimum four-month test programme providing wave power to subsea infrastructure including subsea controls equipment and a underwater autonomous vehicle provided by subsea solution specialist, Transmark Subsea.
The project – supported by a consortium of partners including energy companies Harbour Energy and Serica Energy – aims to demonstrate that wave power combined with subsea battery energy storage is a cost-effective alternative to carbon intensive umbilical cables.
Grant funding from the Net Zero Technology Centre has supported each phase of the project. This funding was bolstered by Wave Energy Scotland which provided £160,000 to fund the integration of the umbilical into the waver energy converter.
Graeme Rogerson, renewables team lead at the Net Zero Technology Centre added: “We are delighted to support this final phase field trial as we see the potential for the RSP system as a dispatchable energy source to provide reliable renewable energy for remote off-grid applications, powering subsea tiebacks to injection wells for CCS.”
