WAVE FARMS | ADVANTAGES | ROAD MAP | PARTNERS

InfinityWEC Solution

InfinityWEC is a novel 500 kW point absorbing Wave Energy Converter (WEC). It is both highly efficient in capturing energy, and robust enough to operate reliably and survive the harshest marine conditions. Cost efficiency is achieved by its modular design and the easy handling, allowing for road transportation and requiring a minimum of offshore operations.

  • Power Take-Off with Instant force control – provided with high efficiency by combining: 1) a constant pre-tension force provided by hydrostatic pressure. The PTO hull is split in two halves being pushed together by the surrounding water pressure. 2) Bi-directional controllable force by ball screw actuators with frame less torque motors around rotating ball nuts.

  • Survival – ensured with an end-stop spring, reducing the maximum end stop force by half when holding the buoy submerged through the crest of large waves and enables power to be produced also in the harshest sea conditions

  • Buoy – made with high-performance concrete (HPC) in a honeycomb structure, giving a robust body with about the same weight as a conventional steel hull, at a quarter of the cost, a third of the carbon footprint and a tenth of the manufacturing time

InfinityWEC is developed according to the following Design Principles, to achieve high performance, low cost and to be prepared for high volume production and roll-out. The technology and design is patent protected and developed by Ocean Harvesting Technologies AB in collaboration with experienced partners.

OHT-Design-Principles-November-2022-G6Download

InfinityWEC Wave Farms

A wave farm consists of multiple InfinityWEC´s arranged in star shaped 6 MW clusters á 12 WEC units. This topology is area efficient, provides good access to all WEC´s for service vessels, and the total length of the power cables are relatively short. In the wave farm below, three cable hubs are connected on a string cable to a central substation for the wave farm, where power is transformed to higher voltage and exported.  A total of 21 clusters arranged in seven strings provides a total power rating of 106 MW, with an electrical infrastructure very similar to an offshore wind farm.

The system is installable with a minimum of complicated offshore operations and no diving or heavy lifting are necessary offshore. An anchor cage is lowered to the seabed with a crane and filled with 500 ton high density ballast from an installation vessel. The 100 ton buoy and 30 ton PTO are towed separately to the installation site. The PTO is first connected to the power cable retrieved from the cable hub with ROV, then lowered in a vertical position and connected to the anchor. The buoy is finally connected by pulling the upper mooring rope from the PTO through the center of the buoy and locking it with a pin from the top.

Advantages of InfinityWEC

Solving the challenges of wave energy

Our technology has the potential for cost effective electricity generation to main power grids, as well as to off-grid applications.

  • The capability of our power take-off to provide instant force control, enables wave-by-wave optimized PTO force control, which improves the annual energy production up to 30% compared to sea state optimized force control..
  • The passive two stage end-stop cushion system protects the system from excessive forces and enables power to be produced also in the harshest conditions.
  • Wave power requires only half the amount of energy storage to smooth the power output to a constant output all year around, compared to wind power.
  • The system is modular and suitable to produce in large scale, and is also made from parts and materials that can be easily transported and assembled on any location.
  • Our technology has the potential for electricity generation for main power grids as well as for off grid applications such as isolated areas, island communities, oil & gas platforms and fish farms.
  • Only proven technologies from other industries are used and integrated in the InfinityWEC system, enabling fast and capital efficient route to market.
  • Wave energy requires 3-5 times less area compared to wind power, due to the higher energy density in waves compared to wind, and can be placed much closer to the shore-line, since the visual impact is virtually zero.
  • The estimated LCoE is highly competitive to wind and solar energy at 100 EUR/MWh already at 100 MW deployed capacity, and 35 EUR/MWh at GW scale deployment.

Road map

We follow the staged development method set out by the international marine energy community

OHT is since 2017 developing the novel InfinityWEC wave energy converter with advanced force control and with AI capabilities. We have an extensive know-how in the wave power application and patent protection covering all aspects of the InfinityWEC system. To mature the concept we have developed tools to accurately assess dependencies between design and the overall life cycle cost of the system. We believe in using numerical models to time and cost efficiently simulate the behavior, loads and performance of the system, and to verify them with limited and controllable physical tests. This ensures we are on track to a commercially viable system before we move into large scale prototypes and testing.

We are currently preparing for sea trials of a fully operational InfinityWEC in scale 1:3 on the west cost of Sweden.

In 2025 we plan start the sea trial project of a full-scale 500 kW InfinityWEC, after which our system is validated and certified, followed by our first commercial installations.

Partners