Marine Hydrokinetics

StingRAY wave device receives certification statement

Oregon-based Columbia Power Technologies announced DNV GL, an independent energy experts and certification body, has issued a Statement of Feasibility for its StingRAY wave energy converter (WEC). According to DNV GL, this is the first steps toward prototype certification.

With the support of the U.S. Navy, Columbia Power Technologies will test the StingRAY WEC, which is intended to be deployed in water depths greater than 60 m and positioned in arrays of multiple devices. These arrays will be located up to 3 km from shore and will deploy at the U.S. Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) center in Hawaii.

The Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute is providing key research support to this national effort in the form of environmental monitoring, independent WEC device power performance and durability analysis, and critical marine logistical support.

The Statement of Feasibility involved Columbia Power Technologies and DNV GL completing a full risk assessment of StingRAY technology and agreeing to actions to mitigate risk of failure.

Final prototype certification will follow the successful close out of actions agreed to during the Statement of Feasibility stage.

Reenst Lesemann, Columbia Power Technologies chief operating officer, said, “We are extremely pleased with the achievement of this important milestone. It points to both the experience and expertise of our product development and delivery team, and to our technical leadership within the industry.

“Our team found the certification process rigorous, but extremely beneficial towards ensuring that we have a firm understanding of the risk management requirements and processes. ”

The company is commercializing a next-generation solution that will deliver survivability, a competitive cost of energy and low environmental and stakeholder impact.

Oregon close to matching funds in grant for new wave energy test site

The federal government through the U.S. Department of Energy made an initial US$5 million available to fund a competitive grant to further develop the South Energy Test Site (SETS). SETS is part of a suite of Pacific Marine Energy Center (PMEC) facilities that are owned and operated by the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC).

SETS will join NNMREC’s North Energy Test Site as its second ocean test site. Both sites are located off the coast of Oregon. SETS is already grid-connected and will feature full-scale testing capabilities.

DOE stipulated that to qualify for the grant, local funding for SETS would have to match 25% of its grant, or about $1.25 million.

On Feb. 25, the Oregon state legislature’s Ways and Means committee announced it is recommending NNMREC, through one of its partnering universities – Oregon State University – receive $800,000 in funding to help meet the grant matching requirement. The committee also approved increasing funding for the Oregon Wave Energy Trust by $200,000 in order that OWET can contribute to the project.

Local funding will come through an amendment the legislature approved to State Bill 5071. SB-5701, passed last year, is the 2015-17 Oregon biennial budget. Through the amendment, the Ways and Means committee recommended General Fund appropriations to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, which will release the state’s funds.

According to NNMREC, SETS will serve as the U.S. test facility for utility-scale wave energy converters and wave energy converter arrays.

ORPC receives US$1.5 million from DOE for its RivGen device

Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Co. announced on March 1 that the U.S. Department of Energy has selected the company to receive up to US$1.5 million to further advance the design and operation of its RivGen Power System in Igiugig, Alaska.

ORPC said it successfully demonstrated RivGen in the Kvichak River at Igiugig in 2014, and in 2015 it connected the device to the local grid. The company said that connection reduced the village’s diesel fuel consumption by one-third.

To initiate the project, DOE has approved Phase One funds of $392,500.

Igiugig has relied on diesel generators for power, at a cost of about 80 cents per kWh, which is more than 10 times the current rate for grid-connected electricity customers in Maine where ORPC tested a larger version of its RivGen concept in Cobscook Bay.

ORPC hopes to replicate its collaboration in Igiugig and in other remote communities in Alaska, Canada and worldwide.

ORPC also received a $2.25 million DOE grant in November to build a system for deploying, anchoring and retrieving its tidal and river power generation units.