OES Annual Report 2012 - Ocean Energy Systems

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required to deliver a bridging market to cost competitive ocean energy. Technology developers that focus on
delivering technology within realistic economic constraints are likely to be successful in the long term.
References
[1] “Offshore Wind Forecasts of future costs and benefits” – Renewable UK, June 2011
[2] J. Fitzgerald, B. Bolund. “Technology Readiness for Wave Energy Projects; ESB and Vattenfall classification
system”. International Conference on Ocean Energy 2012 – Dublin
[3] J. Weber. “WEC Technology Readiness and Performance Matrix – finding the best research technology
development trajectory”. International Conference on Ocean Energy 2012 – Dublin
[4] RenewableUK – “Challenging the Energy- A Way Forward for the UK Wave & Tidal Industry Towards
2020.” October 2010.
[5] “Future Marine Energy - Results of the Marine Energy Challenge: Cost competitiveness and growth of
wave and tidal stream energy” The Carbon Trust, 2006.
[6] “A Guide to an Offshore Wind Farm” – The Crown Estate, 2011.
“FROM TURBINE PROTOTYPE TO PROTOTYPING
AN INDUSTRY: A CRITICAL CHANGE IN PERSPECTIVE”
Chris M Campbell and Elisa Obermann – Marine Renewables Canada
Tracey Kutney – CanmetENERGY, Natural Resources Canada
Over the course of 2012, there have been signals that the global marine renewable energy industry focus
has evolved from a technology commercialization paradigm to a focus on demonstrating a clean power
industry option. This shift has been recognized by both Canada and the UK, as the immediate goal sought
by both countries has become demonstration of multiple devices – “arrays” - to create utility-scale power
plants.
Prototyping an Industry
The focus on array-scale development is evident in many of the recent Canadian and UK initiatives. With both
countries viewed as global leaders in this industry, it is very telling of where the sector is going and what is
needed to achieve a sustainable industry.
Canada’s strategy to date has been focused on the end-game and the steps to demonstrate a marine power
industry solution, with an assumption that technology would advance to meet its needs. The 2011 Canadian
Marine Renewable Energy Technology Roadmap 1 focused primarily on solving the challenges of transitioning
from the technology development phase to the array or power plant phase—and highlighted the technical
and business opportunities this transition would present. A central tenet of the roadmap strategy was that
a broader suite of innovation must be launched urgently, effectively and efficiently. The roadmap identifies
pioneer prototype power plants as the incubators for this critical transition.
Even as the first single device deployments were still only planning initiatives, Nova Scotia’s Fundy Ocean
Research Center for Energy (FORCE) made a commitment to develop the offshore interconnectors for four
pilot tidal power plants – arrays of devices with capacity outputs of 16 MW each, totaling 64 MW. This action
was based on the idea that the demonstration needed to convince the power industry and its financiers
was not simply that a tidal generator can produce significant amounts of electricity, but the critical step
was going to be showing the availability and reliability of electricity generated from a marine power plant.
That same perspective is seen in the UK’s most recent strategic support initiatives. The Marine Energy Array
Demonstrator scheme overtly targets two such pilots – at least three devices and preferably in the 5-10MW
capacity range 2 . The Marine Renewables Commercialization fund is focused on levering two or more such
projects ahead in Scotland, to prove:
1
http://www.marinerenewables.ca/technology-roadmap/
ANNUAL
REPORT 2012