This report was prepared to the OES IA under ANNEX II: Guidelines for the Development and Testing of
Ocean Energy Systems Task 2.1 Guidelines for the Development & Testing of Wave Energy Systems
FOREWORD
Developing machines that can economically and safely convert the energy flux in ocean waves into a usable form will, by its very nature, be a technically demanding undertaking. Not only must the complex hydrodynamics of multiple body fluid interactions be fully understood to aid in the device design but once these are established heavy offshore engineering is required to deploy and operate the electricity generating plants in the harsh environment they must survive in. However, once successful, the socio-economic and environmental rewards from harvesting this abundant power resource should justify the effort required to achieving it.
Because the device development process extends from applying fundamental laws of physics at the concept proving phase to implementing brute strength at the prototype sea trial stage it lends itself readily to following a structured, phased programme similar to the National Aeronautics & Space Administration’s (NASA) Technical Readiness approach. The principle of such a schedule is to sequence the design development through various levels so the required knowledge is obtained at different stages to enable the safe transmission along a path of increasing technical complexity and investment risk. In the case of ocean energy devices the stages can conveniently be linked to different device scales by following Froude Similitude Laws and geometric similarity.....
