New combined solution to harness wave energy full renewable potential for sustainable electricity and fresh water production

Project Information

W2EW

Grant agreement ID: 831041

DOI

10.3030/831041

Project closed

EC signature date 30 November 2018

Start date 1 January 2019

End date 31 October 2023

Funded under

• Horizon 2020 Framework Programme

Total cost

€ 5 296 090,00

EU contribution

€ 3 000 000,00

Coordinated by

VRYHOF ANCHORS BV
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - W2EW (New combined solution to harness wave energy full renewable potential for sustainable electricity and fresh water production)

Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2023-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

With 96.5% of all water on Earth being on the ocean, there is a theoretical ocean wave energy potential, which could contribute to decarbonizing the energy system and at the same time expand the water supply through desalination, creating a new industry with export opportunities worldwide.

This project consists of the implementation of an innovative integration of wave energy and water desalination technologies, to produce zero-emission electricity and fresh water.

The project consortium consists of Vryhof Anchor (Mooring), Wavepiston (Wave Energy), Fiellberg (Hydraulics and Desalination) and Ener.Med. (Grid, Monitoring and Control). Together we assemble the multidisciplinary technologies needed to demonstrate the benefits of a combined system of using wave power for electricity conversion and desalination, and to get the Wave to Energy and Water (W2EW) solution commercialized.

The consortium plans to roll out the W2EW solution at off-grid, small-scale energy and water production sites in islands and isolated coastal communities with up to 100,000 inhabitants, which corresponds to a potential market of 22Bn EUR for electricity and 6Bn EUR for freshwater.
The main goal of this project is to integrate the partners’ technologies, demonstrate the combined solution, and build the market to pave the way for broad market roll-out.

In collaboration with the local community and the local authorities a full-scale Wavepiston wave energy converter will be installed in PLOCAN, Gran Canaria.The wave energy converter leads pressurized water to shore/platform for conversion to electricity and desalination to supply clean power and desalinated water.
The system is expected to have a peak effect of minimum 150 kW, being able to produce 350,000 kWh and 28,000 m3 desalinated water per year.

More about each partner involved: www.vryhof.com www.wavepiston.dk www.fiellberg.fi www.enermed.it

See also project website www.w2ew.eu and https://w2ew.techus.it/

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The W2EW project plan has been structured in 5 work packages as follows:
• WP1 Management
• WP2 Commercial scale system requirements, specifications and design finalization
• WP3 Build market confidence-Integration, demonstration and qualification
• WP4 Build market recognition- Dissemination and communication
• WP5 Commercial exploitation
Of these, WP1 and WP2 was led by Vryhof, WP 3 and WP5 by Wavepiston and WP4 by Ener.Med.

Site of the physical test installation was originally planned to be placed on the island of Isola Piana in Sardinia, but was later transferred to PLOCAN test site in Gran Canaria. However, Isola Piana was still used as a case study.

Progress of the project was significantly impacted by both COVID 19 crisis and Russian-Ukrainian war that caused delays in accessing necessary materials, supplies and services. These in turn caused considerable delays in implementing the planned activities on schedule. Therefore the length of the project was prolonged by 26 months from its planned end date on 31st of August 2021.

Although somewhat slowed down by these obstacles, the project progressed, and the test plant at PLOCAN was nearly finished by the end of the project on 31st of October 2023. Electricity producing Power Module and fresh water producing RO Module are already installed as are some parts of the system placed in the sea. Also the systems for monitoring the operations are ready. Installation of final parts of the system and operative test runs with required maintenance work will be finished on the first quarter of 2024. This work will be done by the project partners at their own cost.

Of the 22 objectives set in the project plan, 17 has been fulfilled during the official project period, and the rest are expected to be fulfilled by spring 2024.

List of the results by the official project end date 31st of October 2023.
- Manufacturing, assembly and FAT of all components
- Installation of all components on Plocan test site (except drill pipe and ECs, postponed to Dec-Jan)
- Development of advanced numerical models (power performance and loads)
- Establish a supply chain for wave energy concept
- Monitoring concept (development of electronic equipment and data warehouse for data collection and data processing)
- Commercial funnel built and project development agreements in place based on results from the W2EW project

Experience with Operation and Maintenance will be achieved in Q1-Q2 2024 and will be disseminated on the partner's website and SoMe channels, and exploited as part of preparing our follow-up pilot projects.
The project was vital for the partners, not only as a product development project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The overall project goal is to integrate the partner’s technologies to demonstrate and commercialise the W2EW solution for power production and desalination.

The partners expect to create the first commercial zero emission system for electricity and freshwater production.

On top of that, this project proposes several positive impacts that will be produced throughout the project and in the future, thanks to the benefits of the innovative solutions.

We will improve the innovation capacity and strengthen the competitiveness and scale-up of the industrial partners, which will enable the opportunities for companies in the sector of renewable energy and desalination.

All of these expected impacts will contribute to the positive impact at EU level in several areas as following:

• Economic Impacts: improving the EU position in the renewable energy market, increase the activity of the companies involved, over 200 new jobs will be created.
• Societal Impacts: Innovative solutions for islands and remote coastal communities (clean energy and fresh water)
• Environmental Impacts: Reducing the CO2 emissions, producing fresh water from renewable energy.

Techus platform 1

WEC String at PLOCAN platform

Offshore installation at Plocan test site

PLOCAN 2020 Press Event

Case study Isola Piana

PLOCAN 2020 Press Event

Techus platform 2

Power generation and Reverse osmosis units installed