Fred. Olsen concludes Lifesaver wave device demonstration

BOLT Lifesaver at WETS (Photo: NAVFAC)

 
Fred. Olsen has completed a one-year demonstration of its BOLT Lifesaver wave energy device off the coast off Hawaii in the USA.

The device was recovered from its deployment location at the Navy’s Kaneohe Bay Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) in April 2017, to be towed to Pearl Harbor where it is now temporarily moored, Fred. Olsen informed.

Over the course of its one-year deployment, the device generated 22364.0 kWh wave energy, with the average output of 3.2kW, and the largest continuous power export lasting 200 days, according to the project’s website.

The BOLT Lifesaver is a point absorber wave energy converter fitted with three power take-off systems, with the capacity of 10kW each.

Assembled of five hull sections, the device can accommodate a total of five power take-off units, outputting a total of 50kW at the nominal wave state.

The BOLT Lifesaver PTOs operate individually, meaning a failure of one PTO does not affect performance of the others.