OES Annual Report 2012 - Ocean Energy Systems

127
05 / DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL
OCEAN ENERGY INDUSTRY: PERFORMANCE
IMPROVEMENTS AND COST REDUCTIONS
“That wave and tidal devices can be installed in various real-sea locations.
That installation vessels and teams can install and commission multiple devices in close proximity.
That the supply-chain for marine energy devices and balance of plant can be mobilized to manufacture and
assemble multiple components, beginning to deliver economies of scale.
That power from such devices can be combined and delivered to shore.
That devices can generate continuously to the grid, and that projects can be funded based on the sale of
that electricity.” 3
The focus on driving these developments with market-pull mechanisms has become increasingly critical, with
a number of mechanisms advancing in several countries. In the UK, the Renewable Obligation Certificate
(ROC) banding sets a premium on the value of wave or tidal energy and after a number of reviews, the
UK Department of Energy and Climate Change has decided to offer 5 ROCs per MWh. 4 This premium of
about $300 over the clean electricity price is designed to support projects up to 30 MW - a scale proposed
to encourage commercial-scale pilots. In the United States, the first tidal power purchase agreement for
Ocean Renewable Power Corporation (ORPC) was created by an obligation to purchase tidal power.
Similarly, Canada has also recognized the need for this market support. In Nova Scotia, the Community
Feed-In-Tariff (COMFIT) of $652/MWh has attracted five community-scale project proposals from Fundy
Tidal Inc. which have received approval by provincial government. Nova Scotia is also in the process of
setting an array-scale FIT which is expected to be established in spring 2013.
Accelerating the innovation
The focus on array-scale development partly stems from the need to accelerate innovation around some of
the leading generator systems. For example, the Canadian roadmap recognized this relationship between
larger projects and innovation stating: “Canada’s marine renewable energy sector must continue to develop
in this direction to accelerate innovation and collaboration, and drive the development of commercial- scale
wave, in-stream tidal, and river-current demonstrations.”
The roadmap proposed that the development of technology incubators to share experience and accelerate
innovation is fundamental to the progress along these pathways. It suggested that aggregating early activity
will create the scale and momentum needed to incent the development of technologies and the transfer of
skills from other sectors (such as oil and gas, fisheries, marine and salvage operations). The early achievement
of full-scale demonstration would showcase Canada’s engineering, procurement and construction capabilities
as a demonstration of expertise by solving the needs of these projects.
Likewise, the pursuit of full-scale demonstration is evident in UK thinking. The 2012 Technology Innovation
Needs Assessment by UK’s Low Carbon Innovation Coordination Group identified initial deployment of
first arrays and R&D to address the challenges identified in the first arrays 5 as two priority actions. The 2010
UK UKERC/ETI roadmap also focused on crosscutting enablers for cost reduction to accelerate progress on
the first arrays 6 . Similarly the UK Technology Strategy Board and Scottish Government recently committed
funding to seven projects focused on array development enabling technologies addressing the range from
designs for installation and service vessels to a standard foundation connection. 7
Building a supply chain, which assembles the best component supply, manufacturing and operational
approaches, is a problem for one-off assemblies and demonstrations. Array-scale development catalyzes
this industrial-scale activity because they create needs that demonstrations of single devices can avoid...
The multi-device systems will require an integration of technology, technical approaches and operating
practices, which may not have been needed for single-device testing. The requirements of these prototype
power plants are already driving the focus of strategic and collaborative innovation initiatives (Figure 1).
2
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/meeting_energy/wave_tidal/funding/mead/mead.aspx
3
http://www.carbontrust.com/client-services/technology/innovation/marine-renewables-commercialisation-fund
4
http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/consultation/ro-banding/5936-renewables-obligation-consultation-the-government.pdf
5
www.lowcarboninnovation.co.uk/document.php?
6
http://ukerc.rl.ac.uk/ERR0303.html
7
https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/marine-energy-supporting-array-technologies/articles/-/blogs/trackback/presentationsavailable-from-marine-energy-supporting-array-technologies-event