Holistic Advanced Prototyping and Interfacing for Wave Energy Control
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Strathclyde
Department Name: Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Abstract
Wave energy has the potential to provide significant contributions of renewable energy and economic growth for the UK and help deliver the Government's Clean Growth Strategy . As part of a national renewable energy portfolio, wave energy brings valuable grid-balancing energy benefits with its out-of-phase relationship with wind energy generation. It is one of the few domestically led low carbon technology sectors that could advance the economy with significant UK content and shows great promise for exports. However, wave energy is at a critical juncture in its development with competing technologies such as wind and solar having seen rapid cost reductions in recent years. One solution to find this cost reduction for Wave Energy Converters (WECs) is through the development and implantation of improved device control which could dramatical improve energy capture and extend device lifetime without the need for significant hardware redesign. Numerous approaches to WEC control have been and will be proposed, each of which will have to be demonstrated and proven in a physical wave tank environment before being deployed on WECs. Wave tank tests allow controlled WECs to be tested and de-risked safely in a low risk environment, designers and developers to develop knowledge of their controllers (de-risking their operation and reducing uncertainty) and stimulate concepts for approaches required for their implementation.
HAPiWEC (Holistic Advanced Prototyping and Interfacing for Wave Energy Control) will develop and demonstrate open-hardware and open-software tools, and methodologies for the rapid, cost-effective and remote (over the internet) deployment of novel WEC controllers in state-of-the-art wave tank facilities. In doing so, it will widen the participation of WEC controller development to those outside of the marine renewable energy community and remove barriers to the testing of control algorithms in wave tank environments. The project proposes 3 core concepts:
(1) Rapid advanced prototyping of controllers for wave energy devices, conducted remotely
(2) An open source, accessible, well-characterised generic scale model with novel distributed sensing
(3) An advanced impedance matching control strategy (Optimal Velocity Tracking) as a case study controller, benchmarked in the tank against the winners of an international competition
The "open" learnings on rapid prototyping of controller hardware and software will be accessible by both developers of conceptual WECs as well as more established device developers. The project aims to leave a lasting impact on the sector through the legacy of the IMPACT+ open source toolbox, open-hardware OSPREY I WEC test rig and extensive open-access datasets and publications.
HAPiWEC activities align with key areas of development and the required support mechanisms identified by Supergen ORE Hub and will create new tools for ECRs and CDT activities. The project is strongly supported by a diverse set of project industrial partners who will provide critical insight in their areas of expertise. These include the West Atlantic Marine Energy Community (WEAMEC), Ecole Centrale Nantes (ECN), Wave Energy Scotland (WES), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Renewable Dynamics all of whom are experts in wave energy and control and are at the forefront of engagement with the research and industrial communities. Their expertise will be invaluable in directing the project and ensuring the outputs are disseminated widely amongst the community.
HAPiWEC (Holistic Advanced Prototyping and Interfacing for Wave Energy Control) will develop and demonstrate open-hardware and open-software tools, and methodologies for the rapid, cost-effective and remote (over the internet) deployment of novel WEC controllers in state-of-the-art wave tank facilities. In doing so, it will widen the participation of WEC controller development to those outside of the marine renewable energy community and remove barriers to the testing of control algorithms in wave tank environments. The project proposes 3 core concepts:
(1) Rapid advanced prototyping of controllers for wave energy devices, conducted remotely
(2) An open source, accessible, well-characterised generic scale model with novel distributed sensing
(3) An advanced impedance matching control strategy (Optimal Velocity Tracking) as a case study controller, benchmarked in the tank against the winners of an international competition
The "open" learnings on rapid prototyping of controller hardware and software will be accessible by both developers of conceptual WECs as well as more established device developers. The project aims to leave a lasting impact on the sector through the legacy of the IMPACT+ open source toolbox, open-hardware OSPREY I WEC test rig and extensive open-access datasets and publications.
HAPiWEC activities align with key areas of development and the required support mechanisms identified by Supergen ORE Hub and will create new tools for ECRs and CDT activities. The project is strongly supported by a diverse set of project industrial partners who will provide critical insight in their areas of expertise. These include the West Atlantic Marine Energy Community (WEAMEC), Ecole Centrale Nantes (ECN), Wave Energy Scotland (WES), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Renewable Dynamics all of whom are experts in wave energy and control and are at the forefront of engagement with the research and industrial communities. Their expertise will be invaluable in directing the project and ensuring the outputs are disseminated widely amongst the community.
Organisations
| Description | Design of the HAPiWEC Programme: Stakeholder Requirements |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Surveys were conducted with 16 organisations within the wider community over voice or video call. Typically these were one to one interviews. One of the interviews was in the form of an online seminar that introduced HAPiWEC and asked questions of the audience. Interviews were conducted typically with one person from each organisation per call. A seminar format involved Maynooth's control group, which opened up to a further general discussion among two dozen people attending the online seminar. The seminar was hosted by Maynooth University in Ireland, but most of the attendees were international and joining by video call. As for the one to one interviews, seven were based in the UK and the rest were international, including the head of China's 'National Offshore Technology Centre'. We also engaged with sister projects in the EPSRC call that funded HAPiWEC and publically funded R&D (Academia), control researchers (postgarduate students/academics), and consultants (Professional Practitioners) The one to one interviews were designed to feel unstructured, which allowed scope for the interviewees to focus on topics that were priorities for them. However, we were gathering information that allowed the interviewer to fill in fields in an interview summary table. These included classification data (type of organisation; type of WEC etc), advice, opportunities and barriers around participation, as well as what was understood by the term 'control'. The interviews were designed around gathering this data. The purpose of the interview program was to assess how opportunities and barriers wrt potential participation were related to different characteristics of organisations, whether that be the type of organisation, their level of experience, R&D requirements specific to their organisation. The outcomes of this engagement was a list of advice about how to design and operate the HAPiWEC programme, information mapping appetite for participation in the programme to organisation type, and information mapping perception of the problem space to organisation type and experience. These outcomes were then used alongside a mapping of team preferences to design the scope and implementation of the HAPiWEC project. It also contributed to the decision of which type of WEC to focus on initially. The activity also helped us understand similar activities that had gone before and learn from their experience. These discussions helped form links with several other researchers working in the area. The most significant aspect came from the seminar with Maynooth University, who had run the wave energy control competition previously in collaboration with Aalborg University. This resulted in discussions with Aalborg exploring the loan of their equipment. Although we decided against this the decision making process forced us to pin down our resource constraints and priorities. Maynooth also shared valuable lessons learnt, and we used this information and their advice for several aspects of our project execution. Importantly, we decided against a competition, but kept the option of comparing against common benchmarks. We also designed our timeline to give potential participants as much forewarning as possible. A further output of these activities was the request by many participants to remain updated about our work - which we have factored into our website and communication strategy - and their encouragement for our team to remain engaged with their related activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The 14th European Wave and Tidal Conference was held in Plymouth, UK in September 2021. Due to Covid restrictions it was held as hybrid event with approximately 500 attendees. Approximately 50 of these attendees (in person and on-line) joined a EPSRC Marine Wave Programme side event on the 6th of September where Dr Tom Davey presented the HAPiWEC project describing it's scope, objectives and opportunities for engagement. This was an early opportunity to engage with other Marine Wave projects funded by EPSRC and prompted conversation on the sharing of resources and opportunities for collaboration. The latter is particulary important for HAPiWEC's remit. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | International Engagement: Sharing Best Practice (Recurring) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The HAPiWEC project has idenitfied other research institutes that have conducted competitions or evaluations of wave energy devices using participants from outwith their research institute. HAPiWEC is the first wave energy project to take this approach in the UK and so ongoing discussions are held with international institutions that have experience of similar engagements. The lessons learned from the international community are then applied to our project, ensuring that any mistakes are not repeated and that the engagement with paticipants is conducted in the best way to foster continued interest and engagement throughout the process. The engagement has thus far informed the design of the HAPiGYM comparative evaluation, one of the key deliverables for the project. This is an ongoing engagement, with meetings between the HAPiWEC team and researchers at Maynooth University (Ireland), Sandia National Labs (USA) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (USA) taking place on an adhoc basis, dpenedent upon the stage of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at the Supergen ORE Hub Annual Assembly |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | An invited talk was given by Dr Adam Stock to a wide audience of researchers and industry profesionals in the area of offshore renewable energy. Good discussion was triggered from the talk, leading to discussions regarding ongoing collaborative work within the project. In particular this served as a useful way to build interest and discuss the HAPiWEC project with other EPSRC wave energy projects funded from the same call. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://supergen-ore.net/uploads/Adam-Stock-Sept-2022.pdf |
| Description | Steering Group / Advisory Board (Recurring) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The advisory board for the project, comprising research groups from the UK and internationally met to discuss the project progress and to guide the scope and timelines of the HAPiWEC project. The advisory board includes Renewable Dynamics, a Scottish SME, Wave Energy Scotland, a Scottish technology support organisation, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), an American research institute, and the West Atlantic Marine Energy Community. This is a recurring activity that happens every six months. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |