Mocean Energy’s Blue X Wave Device and Verlume’s Halo Battery Come Ashore
Mocean Energy’s Blue X wave energy converter, with project partner Verlume’s Halo storage system, have been retrieved to shore after more than 12 months of testing at sea as part of Renewables for Subsea Power (RSP) project.
Orkney-based marine services provider Leask Marine was employed to help bring RSP technology back onshore.
The next steps for the RSP project include removing all equipment from the marine site, ahead of inspection and clean down onshore in Orkney, and moving to Verlume’s operations facility in Dyce, Aberdeen.
The project has given RSP's participants invaluable data and growing confidence in the system's ability to deliver reliable low carbon power and communications to subsea assets and long-term underwater vehicle residency.
“We are exploring the next steps both here in the UK and overseas to further demonstrate how this combination of ocean technologies can enable reliable low carbon power and communications to subsea architecture in a live environment,” Mocean Energy said on social media.
Wave-Powered Subsea Project Completes 12-Month Offshore Test Campaign
The $2.5 million (£2 million) RSP project connected the Blue X wave energy converter with a Halo underwater battery storage system developed by Verlume, demonstrating how green technologies can be combined to provide reliable and continuous low carbon power and communications to subsea equipment, offering a cost-effective future alternative to umbilical cables, which are carbon intensive with long lead times to procure and install.
Energy majors TotalEnergies and Shell Technology – Marine Renewable Program joined project leads Mocean Energy and Verlume in the pan-industry initiative, alongside PTTEP, the Thai national oil company, Serica Energy, Harbour Energy, Baker Hughes, Transmark Subsea, and the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC).