A team from Maynooth University has been awarded €800,000 in Horizon 2020 funding to collaborate with Scottish company Aquamarine Power on a wave energy project: Innowave.
The University’s role in the project will be to develop automated computer systems for maximising the power capture of Aquamarine Power’s Oyster wave energy converter. The converters should be operational for 20 years and the research will analyse the optimum shape and maintenance interventions to maximise the economic performance of the system.
Three newly recruited early-stage researchers will divide their time over the three-year project between Maynooth’s Centre for Ocean Energy Research and the Aquamarine Power premises in Edinburgh and Belfast, with site visits to the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, where Aquamarine Power has been testing its Oyster device for the past four years.
“This is a very exciting project which has the potential to greatly advance the field of wave energy and progress its development as a commercially viable energy source,” said Prof John Ringwood, Maynooth University. “It’s a great example of academia and industry collaborating to progress research which can have a monumental impact on energy provision for future generations. Marine energy has enormous potential as an environmentally friendly and cost-effective source of power.”
Aquamarine Power chief executive officer Paddy O’Kane said: “Aquamarine Power’s aim is to become the world’s leading supplier of utility-scale wave farm power stations. With the survivability and performance potential of our Oyster wave technology now largely proven, following four years of continuous deployment at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, we are significantly advanced towards that goal.”
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