Worldwide there are number of national marine energy device open water test sites currently in operation, in construction, or being planned for development. In addition, there are a number of ocean energy device manufacturers that have tested their devices at multiple open-water sites in varying environments.
The goal of the Annex V Workshop I "Open Water Testing" organised in Dublin, Ireland on October 2012, was to bring together open-water test site operators and wave device developers to exchange information and experience on all aspects of planning, development, operation, and usage of open-water test facilities to identify possible improvements in the capabilities of these facilities for the mutual benefit of the entire ocean energy industry.
Workshop participants included 36 representatives from 12 different countries. Specifically, the workshop facilitated documentation of the following:
Workshop participants gave 16 presentations about open-water test facilities.
Three categories of open-water test facilities were covered by the presentations:
Each of the three sessions was followed by an open discussion by all participants. The many questions and answers discussed during the workshop are covered in the Summary section in this workshop report. The report also documents suggestions for future workshops in the Attendee Recommendations for Future Workshops section.
The key ideas on how OES could work to improve the testing of ocean energy devices are summarized in the following. During these discussion sessions, an overall workshop theme emerged that focused on defining a business model for test centers in order for them to most effectively accelerate the development and commercialization of the industry.
This work is part of the Annex V - The Exchange and Assessment of Ocean Energy Device Project Information and Experience. The overarching objective of this annex is to accelerate the development and deployment of ocean energy technology through a multi-country exchange of available ocean project information and experience to allow the participants to understand the current state of knowledge in the field, and to develop a consistent method of assessing the performance and cost of ocean energy conversion systems.
