Wave Dragon
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Wave Dragon - a quote from:
EU Commission, Press release, IP/04/350, Brussels, 16 March 2004:
... The EU research project Wave Dragon, to be presented at the briefing, is the world’s first offshore wave energy converter producing power for the grid in Denmark. The project team includes partners from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, & the UK. Moored in water, the 237 tonne Wave Dragon recuperates energy that is generated by ‘overtopping’ waves. The water is initially stored in a reservoir and then passed through turbines which produce electricity. This prototype is a quarter of the size of the full system. In comparison with traditional hydroelectric power stations, this new technology is competitive. Plans to build and deploy power production units elsewhere in the EU are already underway.
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[edit] Technology
Wave Dragon is a floating, slack-moored energy converter of the overtopping type that can be deployed in a single unit or in arrays of Wave Dragon units in groups of 2-200 resulting in a power plant with a capacity comparable to traditional fossil fuel based power plants.
The first prototype connected to the grid is currently deployed in Nissum Bredning, Denmark. Long term testing is carried out to determine system performance; i.e. availability and power production in different sea states. The energy absorption performance stated at this website has now been independently verified and focus will now be on power production optimisation. These tests will lead to a multi-MW deployment in 2007.
The Wave Dragon concept combines existing, mature offshore and hydro turbine technology in a novel way. Wave Dragon is the only wave energy converter technology under development that can be freely up-scaled. Due to its size service, maintenance and even major repair works can be carried out at sea leading to low O&M cost relative to other concepts.
[edit] Principles
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[edit] Simple construction - complex design
The basic idea of the Wave Dragon wave energy converter is to use well-known and well-proven principles from traditional hydropower plants in an offshore floating platform.
It is really very simple: The Wave Dragon overtopping device elevates ocean waves to a reservoir above sea level where water is let out through a number of turbines and in this way transformed into electricity, i.e. a three-step energy conversion:
Overtopping (absorption) -> Storage (reservoir) -> power-take-off (low-head hydro turbines).
[edit] A simple, robust and reliable system.
Simple … Wave energy converters often make use of either mechanical motion or fluid pressure and there are numerous techniques for achieving it, e.g. oscillating water/air columns, hinged rafts, gyroscopic/hydraulic devices. Wave Dragon does not have any conversion but uses the energy in the water directly.
Wave Dragon is a very simple construction and has only one kind of moving parts: the turbines. This is essential for any device bound for operating offshore where the extreme forces and fouling etc seriously affect any moving parts.
… complex But yet Wave Dragon represents a very complex design where large efforts have been spent on design, modelling and testing in order to:
Optimize overtopping Refine hydraulic response: anti-pitching and anti-ruling, buoyancy etc. Reduce (the effect of) forces on wave reflectors, mooring system etc. Reduce construction costs, maintenance and running costs All this with one goal: to produce as much electricity as possible at the lowest possible costs - and in an environmental friendly and reliable way.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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