Applications
Iswec is a wave energy converter born to satisfy two main market needs: grid connection and stand-alone applications. This characteristic has been a driver for the entire product design, implementing all the required technical solutions to answer requirements from both markets:
- different power size;
- onboard storage;
- continuity of production;
- grid connection;
- maximizing the energy production.
Grid-Connected
Wave energy can become a prominent source of renewable energy for the world electricity demand. To provide a sustainable solution for this market, W4E is working on three different fields:
- Technology advancement;
- Grid-connection architecture;
- Grid interface.
Wave for Energy Ltd. is a technology driven company and, by nature, everyday works to advance the proprietary technology and the developed design and analysis tools. But, to provide a state of the art wave energy converter it will not be enough. W4E is also concerned in understanding the most efficient and effective solution to introduce produced electricity into the existing grid. First of all the architecture of connection among the buoyant devices and the shore cabin has to be optimized to minimize cables’ losses. This objective can be reached working on cables lengths and structures and on electrical parameters of the network. Besides, the structure of the onshore grid and the diffusion of it along the coast is fundamental to build a sustainable and economically feasible infrastructure for wave farms.
Stand-Alone
The stand-alone is an innovative market for wave energy converter devices and the number of possible applications increases everyday. Some needs were partly answered by other technologies or other passive systems. Iswec will be the answer for all of them. It provides a new solution for systems which require remote energy supply, which are now equipped with batteries or solar panels. Batteries are not efficient, since they require to be substituted periodically even in harsh offshore marine environment, representing a risk and an high source of costs for operators. On the other hand, solar panels are generally not a widely adoptable solution for marine applications.
The stand-alone architecture can provide energy to harbors signaling systems or other energy-consuming applications required by port activities. It can provide energy for offshore operations. The concept developed for the stand alone architecture of Iswec can be adopted in applications like floating marinas, to actively damp waves, and boat stabilizers, where the gyroscopic nature of Iswec can be profitably exploited.
