Marine Power Systems appoints LOC Group for design support

Marine Power Systems (MPS) has appointed LOC Group to support the detailed design of its modular platform that will house both wave and wind power generation technologies.

Marine and engineering consulting firm LOC Group, part of AqualisBraemar since December 2020, will deliver a work package related to the integration of wind turbine technology on MPS’ modular platform.

MPS has developed a technology solution that can be configured to harness wind power, wave power or combined wind and wave power at grid scale.

The solution represents the only modular wave, floating wind and combined solution that can be used in deep water, MPS claims.

Between WaveSub, WindSub and DualSub, Marine Power Systems supports optimised energy capture for any particular site through the combination of wave and wind energy generation technology.

According to MPS, the company will now be working with LOC group to further develop the design and de-risk the technology.

Graham Foster, Chief Technology Officer at MPS, said: “LOC Group are a highly experienced team with a solid reputation within the offshore energy sector. By leveraging LOC’s first-rate experience in wind turbine technology and design, MPS are making further progress towards development of our best-inclass renewable energy platform”.

Tim Camp, Director of renewable projects at LOC Group, said: “LOC blends expertise in offshore wind development and wave energy to support the client in finding the right solution. This project is highly significant in that it has opened up the commercial viability of wave energy through harnessing different technologies and design concepts in the marine renewable market.

“We are really pleased to have the opportunity to support Marine Power Systems in finding the right solution for the integration of wind turbine technology on their flexible platform, and to help MPS bring their technology to market“.

To enable the successful development of the technology, a full-scale WaveSub prototype – a proprietary wave energy technology of MPS – will be designed and deployed.

The WaveSub prototype will first be configured for wave energy extraction with one wave energy convertor attached.

Upon completion of the WaveSub prototype operation, the platform will be demobilized, refitted with a wind turbine, and then re-deployed as a DualSub to demonstrate combined wave and floating wind, MPS said earlier.

The project that will demonstrate both the WaveSub wave energy device and DualSub wave and floating wind at large scale is expected to hit the water in 2023.

MPS envisions that the first commercially available wave-only devices will have a rated power of 4.5MW, increasing to 10MW of wave power as the technology is developed.

The combined wind and wave devices will support the largest and most powerful wind turbines available today and in the future, starting at 10MW and increasing to over 15MW, MPS predicts.