Project

The Danish wave energy sector consists of several large floating and loosely anchored wave power plants. These plants require specially designed anchoring systems, as “standard” solutions (largely coming from the offshore oil and gas industry) are not designed for the conditions and specifications applicable to wave power plants. For these wave power plants, it is necessary to reduce the resulting anchoring and structural loads, which can be done by making the anchoring solutions more compliant. This will reduce the costs of the anchoring solution and the structure of the plant and thereby the overall costs of the plant and its produced energy, while making the systems more reliable.

The four plants selected to be part of this project are all at a stage of development where they have either completed, or are about to complete, testing of the plants at sea. The four plants are Floating Power Plant, Wave Dragon, Weptos and Leancon. They all require comparable anchoring solutions, as the plants are large, floating, loosely anchored structures operating in water depths of around 30 – 100 m at full commercial scale. This project investigates and compares different anchoring solutions that are useful for these wave power plants. The anchoring solutions are assessed step by step, in order to carry out a systematic and thorough evaluation. The project is organised in the following work packages:

- WP 1: Design practices and tools.
- WP 2: Anchoring solutions.
- WP 3: Preliminary design.
- WP 4: Full analysis.
- WP 5: Cost evaluation.
- WP 6: Selection and results.
- WP 7: Dissemination and project management.

Throughout the project, reports will be produced presenting the results of the selected studies and milestones according to the project Gantt chart. Each of them is crucial for the next step of the analysis and will thus be of great importance. The final results of this project are numerous. It will provide experience and insight into the development of anchoring solutions for all project partners. Furthermore, it will provide the developers with detailed analyses of the various anchoring solutions, and evaluate their prices and practical applicability. Aalborg University will build up experience and know-how in the field, which will enable them, and/or a possible spin-off company, to offer design services in the field to companies in the future. It is also expected to be significant cost and reliability benefits, in addition to having an effective anchoring solution, for the partner plants.