Joule & Thermie A – Project Summary
VERSION Intermediate
PROJECT NUMBER JOR3-CT98-7027
Wave energy ready to contribute to EU's sustainable electricity
production
Wave Dragon, – a 4 MW wave energy converter – is now ready for real
sea testing
The Objectives
Wave energy has a possibility to contribute considerably to the development of a fossil
fuel free power production. More than 30 % of the electricity consumption within EU can
be covered by wave energy. Wave energy will also raise the value of wind based power
production considerably as wave energy in the North Sea lasts up to 6 hours after the
wind has slowed down, and in the Atlantic Ocean this figure is much bigger. This means
that the utilization of wave energy can minimize the problems faced by grid operators in
relation to predictability and grid balance concerns caused by the wind power. As a result
of this, the combined sustainable power production from wind and wave will need a
smaller back-up from traditional power plants than a system without the wave power part.
Until now wave energy has only been little explored, which is caused by the relatively
large costs for developing and testing the necessary technology. Another reason is that
only with the recent introduction of the EU action plan for renewable energy it became
possible to attract commercial partners for the development. The team behind the Wave
Dragon project has tested a scale model 1:50 in order to have as many tests performed as
possible before entering the more expensive part of the development program. The scale
tests are necessary in order to optimise the construction, find the right regulation
technique for the system, and to develop a suitable high efficient low-head axial turbine.
The Project
The Wave Dragon is a floating slack-moored 4 MW wave energy converter of the
overtopping type. It basically consists of two wave reflectors focusing the waves towards
a ramp. Behind the ramp there is a large reservoir where the water that runs up the ra