A model created by the Russian firm Applied Technologies Company Ltd. provided valuable insight into the process of converting the energy of the sea into electricity.
Sea waves are a renewable energy source (RES) that have the potential to produce power without harming the environment. Systems to harvest power from the sea are particularly attractive for remote coastal regions that are often far from traditional power plants.
The INCO 2 Programme supported an international collaborative research project, MARINECO, involving two EU Member States and two organisations from the Russian Federation. The goal was the development of a Float wave electric power station FWEPS) based on an innovative two-way oscillator.
One of the Russian partners, Applied Technologies Company Ltd. (ATC), was charged with constructing a model to enable simulations to take place. The challenge was to accurately describe the physical processes occurring in an oscillating system with two degrees of freedom. ATC employed advanced mathematical techniques to capture the essential features of the actuator.
The knowledge gathered from the simulations allowed the MARINECO consortium to tweak the FWEPS prototype prior to deployment in sea-based trials.