New software suite will strengthen future wave and tidal energy projects

The energy sector needs software tools that reduce the technical and financial risks involved in the use of ocean energy technologies. This will allow us to deploy competitive wave and tidal stations," says Pablo Ruiz-Minguela, project coordinator and head of wave energy at Tecnalia.

The work in progress

The first generation of design tools had already been developed under a previous FP7 project called DTOcean and were available to interested parties free of charge. These tools were successfully used on major projects such as the MeyGen tidal station with four 6 MW turbines in the UK and a wave energy application developed by Sandia National Laboratories in the US. The new package consists of five tools that cover the entire life of the station, including a tool for creating, selecting and designing concepts; a tool to assist in technology development decisions; and design deployment tools that enable optimal device and station installation.

In addition, the package also includes design evaluation tools that inform users of the suitability of a technology and project, as well as a framework for sharing and reusing the design. Standalone alpha versions of all tools are now available to industry partners.

A technological maturity level deadline

The DTOceanPlus team expects its technology to reach technology maturity level six by the end of the project in April 2021. Ruiz-Minguela is optimistic that it will fill a gap in the market, providing a unique, integrated, open source technology that is compatible with the entire innovation, development and deployment process. Although the project is primarily aimed at technology developers, project developers, public funding bodies and private investors, its results will also be enormously valuable to policy makers, standardization bodies, insurers and the supply chain. In order to maximize the impact, all tools will be made available to the entire marine energy sector free of charge.