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Country of Spain, the first commercial wave energy plant in
Europe. Since its installation in 2011, the plant has operated
continuously and, as of early 2016, it had generated more than
1 GWh of electricity by harnessing wave-driven compressed air
(oscillating water column). 31
Ocean energy technologies – both tidal and wave energy – also
are being developed actively in East Asia. Japan has established
several demonstration sites for ocean energy development with
two projects coming online in 2015, a 5 kW tidal stream unit at
Shiogama and a 43 kW wave energy project at Kuji. 32 China also
is engaged in the development of both wave and tidal energy
technologies and, in 2015, had 10.7 MW of capacity installed,
including several development projects. 33 The Jiangxia tidal
power plant was upgraded in 2015, from 3.9 MW to 4.1 MW. 34
Among new development projects is the 100 kW Sharp Eagle
wave energy converter, which was deployed in 2015. 35 China’s
experience to date indicates that the country’s tidal current
technologies exhibit significantly lower-cost structures than its
wave energy projects, but all are limited by immature technology
and lack of experience and supporting infrastructure. 36
Although the vast majority of demonstration and pilot projects
focus on extracting useful energy from the tides and waves, the
year 2015 also saw advances in the area of ocean thermal energy
conversion (OTEC). Makai Ocean Engineering (United States)
connected a new 100 kW OTEC plant – believed to be the world’s
largest – to Hawaii’s electric grid in August. 37 Makai’s research
and evaluation OTEC plant uses the temperature difference
between deep ocean water (at 670 metres) and surface water
to generate electricity, where a closed-cycle working fluid of
ammonia drives a turbine for power generation. 38
As more projects are tested around the world, it is increasingly
important to understand the potential effects of ocean energy
development on marine life. A report on the status of scientific
knowledge in this area, released in early 2016, found that the
main potential interactions between ocean energy devices and
marine animals that present ongoing concern include: risk of
animals colliding with moving components; various potential
impacts of sound propagation from ocean energy devices; and
any biological effect of electromagnetic fields generated from
underwater cables. 39 Many of the perceived risks associated with
such interactions are driven by uncertainty, due to lack of data,
which continues to confound differentiation between real and
perceived risks. 40
US Navy’s recently renovated Carderock Maneuvering and
Seakeeping Basin wave simulator will be used in a government
effort to stimulate innovation, establish new companies and drive
down costs in the development of new wave energy devices in
the United States. 42
Across the Atlantic, the FloWave ocean simulation test tank that
opened at the University of Edinburgh in 2014 is intended to
mitigate project risk by allowing testing of ocean energy devices
before committing to the cost of trials at sea. 43 In 2015, Canadian
and UK parties launched a collaboration to develop a new sensor
system to increase understanding of the impact of turbulence on
tidal devices, and thus reduce development risk. 44 The European
Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) and FloWave joined forces to
simulate actual sea conditions around Orkney based on EMEC’s
monitoring data, with the aim of improving test results. 45
Due to difficult market conditions that include limited funding for
R&D and a constrained financial landscape in general, EMEC
characterised the year as turbulent, but noted also that new
developers were signed up for tests at the Centre. 46
Despite the many encouraging developments in ocean energy
in 2015, the industry’s challenges took their toll, and the year
witnessed consolidation in the industry as well as one closure.
Aquamarine Power (UK) announced the successful demonstration
of its wave energy converter (Oyster 800) in early
2015, but only a few months later the company was placed in
administration due to lack of private sector backing that was
required to supplement public funding support; subsequently, the
company was dissolved. 47
Atlantis acquired from Siemens AG the UK-based company
Marine Current Turbines (MCT) – the manufacturer of the
world’s first utility-scale tidal stream project (the 1.2 MW SeaGen
system). In late 2015, ScottishPower Renewables joined Atlantis
as a shareholder in the Tidal Power Scotland Limited (TPSL)
project portfolio, folding into TPSL its development projects in
Scotland. 48
The industry continues to face a variety of challenges that were
explored by the European Commission’s Ocean Energy Forum
in its 2015 draft Strategic Roadmap on ocean energy. The
document outlines the main imperatives for overcoming the
hurdles to realising commercial success for the various ocean
energy technologies. These imperatives include infrastructure
and logistical needs of the industry for technology advancement;
overcoming financing obstacles in an industry characterised
by relatively high risk and high upfront costs; and the need for
improved planning, consenting and licensing procedures. 41
02
The relatively high development risk of ocean energy technologies
has proven the need for well-equipped test centres and other
risk-mitigating innovations. In combination with competitive
financial incentives from the US Department of Energy, the
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