Press kit: Ocean energy

Vattenfall believes that Ocean energy will be the next renewable energy source to become commercial, and that this will happen within the next 10 to 15 years.

Ocean energy is a collective name for technologies like wave power, salinity power and power from marine currents. Our development of wave power sites and research into other forms of ocean energy is based on our ambition to reduce emissions; our strategy is Making Electricity Clean.

Ocean energy programme

Vattenfall’s ocean energy programme contains testing of several different technologies in different geographical areas with varying conditions. The focus is currently on wave power, which has great potential in Europe. Our vision is that between 5 and 10 per cent of our electricity generation in 2030 will come from waves. We are involved in wave power projects where three different technologies are tested.

At the same time, we follow general results from tests on other promising concepts. Our ambition is to establish commercial wave power sites within 10 to 15 years, with the best available technologies. Through our work, we are continuously building knowledge within Vattenfall and we already have around 20 people working full time with test projects, site development, risk assessments and more.

The three technologies

Since 2009 we have a test site for Seabased equipment outside Runde in Norway, in cooperation local partner Tussa. During 2010 we will be starting tests sites with the technologies of Wavebob (Ireland) and Pelamis (Scotland). These test sites will be in an even tougher wave climate. The UK´s west coast has the largest potential for wave power in all of Europe.

Next steps

After pilot tests on these three technologies, Vattenfall hopes to have gathered enough knowledge about functionality, dependability and maintenance costs to chose a technology for a full scale demonstration site. Our aim is to have this demo site in operation in 2015.

Movie clips and animations

All rights reserved: Vattenfall

 

Animation - Seabased ocean energy (WMV 18 MB, new window)

Wave power deployment (WMA 16 MB, new window)

Downloads

From the deployment of equipment at Runde - Download documents with pictures and text.

Doument	Download
Activitates below the surface	PDF 183 kb
Adam and Eve, the wave energy converters	PDF 310 kB
Communication cables	PDF 224 kB
Crew during deployment	PDF 239 kB
Deployment LVMS (Low Voltage Marine Substation)	PDF 215 kB
Ecological design of gravity foundation	PDF 175 kB
Energy from the ocean 2009 - Renewable fuels	PDF 238 kB
Grid connection point	PDF 225 kB
Low voltage marine substation	PDF 243 kB
Power buoys	PDF 214 kB
The site at Runde	PDF 235 kB
View of buoy	PDF 266 kB
Inside a WEC is a linear generator	PDF 2,67 MB