Quoceant, working with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and SgurrControl Ltd, has completed a landscaping study into the control systems for wave energy convertors on behalf of Wave Energy Scotland (WES). Commissioned in March 2016, the overarching study was aimed at helping identify the future control requirements of the wave sector and enable targeted technology development and innovation.
Ross Henderson, Quoceant project lead, said: “Control is an area of fundamental importance to any wave energy device, yet it is often not fully considered or understood by technology developers. This project, initiated by WES, is therefore a welcome step to highlight the importance of control systems in the design of wave energy converters, to identify gaps in knowledge that would benefit from further development, and to allow contributions to the wave energy sector from the wider control engineering community.”
Ross, who is one of the team of nine that formed the engineering consultancy Quoceant in 2015, is a world-leading expert in the control of wave energy systems having developed the control system and novel hydraulic power-take-off concept successfully demonstrated in the Pelamis Wave Power converter. Quoceant is also applying its ideas and engineering expertise to a collaborative project with Artemis Intelligent Power Ltd, to provide improved power take-off systems to the marine energy sector. Ross added: “These two projects commissioned by Wave Energy Scotland are cementing Scotland’s world lead in the control and power take-off for marine energy."
