SWEDEN
TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION
OPERATIONAL PROJECTS
Many ocean energy projects are still in the early phase of development. The only projects that are executed in Sweden and operational, although not commercialized, are the Lysekil wave power project and the Söderfors marine current project mentioned previously. Both are operated by Uppsala University. The Lysekil wave power project installed the first wave energy converter in 2006. The installed capacity is 180 kW but with a new permission to install 20 more wave energy converters which open up for external actors to test their technique.
For the Söderfors marine current project the energy converter was deployed in Dalälven on 7 March 2013. The turbine is rated at 7.5 kW at a water speed of 1.3 m/s, and it is designed to operate in the range of velocities from 0.5 to 2 m/s.
PLANNED DEPLOYMENTS
The Sotenäs Project was initiated in November 2011 and is planned to become the largest wave energy plant in the world. The project is in two stages, with a first 1 MW being commissioned in the first phase. 10 generators have already been put into the ocean and around 20 more are expected to be installed soon. The second, 9 MW, stage will be launched subsequent to the evaluation of the first 1 MW. The wave power plant, when completed, will thus have a total installed power of 10 MW. The Sotenäs Project is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, the power company Fortum and by Seabased Industry AB.
Seabased also signed contracts for a large wave energy plant in Ghana, totaling 14 MW and the first equipment deliveries have already been shipped.
OTHER RELEVANT DEVELOPMENT COMPANIES
There are several Swedish development companies that are progressing and are testing or will be testing their technology primarily outside Sweden. Among them are CorPower Ocean AB, Ocean Harvesting Technology AB, Minesto, Wavetube, Vigor Wave Energy AB and Waves4Power.
Minesto develops a marine current technology, Deep Green, which resembles an underwater kite with a wing and a turbine. It moves swiftly in an 8-shaped trajectory in the current. A ¼ scale prototype was deployed in 2013 in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, and is currently undergoing extensive longtime sea trials. The next step for Deep Green is the installation of the first commercial scale installation, a 0.5 MW power plant off the coast, in Wales, in 2017. The installation in Wales will be successively extended to a 10 MW (20 power plants) array which will eventually deliver power to over 8000 Welsh households. The proposed installation site is located off the Holyhead Island in Anglesey, Wales.
CorPower Ocean AB has developed a Wave Energy Converter, inspired by the pumping principles of the human heart. Together with the Spanish power company Iberdrola and WavEC, CorPower is planning for a demonstration project in scale 1:2 during 2015.
Waves4Power is a developer of buoy based OWEC (Offshore Wave Energy Converter) systems. There are plans to install a demonstration plant in 2015 at Runde test site (Norway). This will be connected via subsea cable to the shore based power grid.
Ocean Harvesting Technologies AB (OHT) was founded in 2007 in Karlskrona, Sweden. OHT develops a collector hub system with a patented gravity accumulator technology to smooth power captured from multiple wave power buoys connected to the hub before electricity is generated.
In 2014, new simulation models were developed and integrated with simulation models from Waves4Power and CorPower, in order to evaluate the technical fit and potential performance advantages from combining these different technologies. This project is supported by the Swedish Energy Agency and OffshoreVäst. The next planned activities are focusing on design and test of the power take-off design including the gravity weight accumulator in a test rig.
Wavetube is a Swedish wave power startup that was founded in 2012 in collaboration between Chalmers University of Technology and Encubator AB in Gothenburg. The wave power solution is based on a completely sealed system with three interconnected compartments that float on the ocean sea surface. The system is filled with freshwater that flows back and forth as the system moves. On its way it passes turbines that are coupled to generators that produce electricity. Wavetube has performed a wave basin trial at Aalborg University and a second round is currently being performed at Queen’s University Belfast and their marine laboratory facility in Portaferry, Northern Ireland. The next planned activities are more wave tank trials followed by sea trials for a scale model.
Vigor Wave Energy AB is in the process of developing its wave energy technology. The company has its own 50m wave tank where the technology has been tested. The next planned activities are to take the technology from the lab to the marine environment and generate results that can verify the simulations.
