Max Carcas, Business Development Director, Pelamis Wave Power

ITRE Renewables Workshop 22nd March 2011

Ocean Energy

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Pelamis Wave Power• 12 years experience and track record• 65 highly skilled & experienced staff• Strong expertise in mechanical,

electrical, structural, hydraulic, offshore, control & systems engineering, and track record in marine operations

• 16 investors with £43m invested• Orders totalling ~£20m• ~£8m of direct grant support since 1998• Total £70m of funding, 6 machines /

4.5MW built plus 12 years R&D and company operation

PWP MANUFACTURING FACILITIES

First to:– achieve independent design verification– generate electricity from offshore wave

power (2004)– secure order for wave farm (2005)– build and operate a wave farm (2008)– secure orders from major utilities (E.ON and

Iberdrola)

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Types of Ocean Energy

• Wave energy• Tidal energy• Ocean thermal (OTEC)• Osmotic (salinity gradient)

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Wave Energy

• Swell waves travel for thousands of miles without losing energy

• Very concentrated form of renewable energy

=> Wave energy – stored, concentrated, wind energy

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Tidal Energy

=> Tidal energy – from the gravitational pull of the moon

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UK wave and tidal resource

Practical resource

50TWh/year

Practical resource

12TWh/year

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Data from the ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) WAM model archive -calibrated and corrected by OCEANOR against a global buoy and Topex satellite altimeter database.

Geographic resource opportunity (wave)Technically constrained resource >2000TWh/year potential = >€1000 billion capex

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Forecastability

-Numerous calibrated WIND-WAVE models

-Existing offshore forecasting services

-Immunity to local climatic effects

- Small hourly & diurnal variation

Wave height (ft)

Peak period (sec)

Wave forecast images courtesy of LOLA

Grid integration – wave energy

Commercial in Confidence

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Forecastability

-Theoretically perfectly forecastable

-Hourly variable

-Immunity to local climatic effects

Grid integration – tidal energy

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Pelamis Wave PowerPelamis Wave Power Marine Current TurbinesMarine Current Turbines

Atlantis Resources CorporationAtlantis Resources Corporation

Collective public funding of £33m (£3m/year)- stimulating private sector investment of £189m

Aquamarine PowerAquamarine Power

Four technology examples

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Commercial developments – 1.6GW in Scotland

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• Challenge is to bridge the gap – “the foothills of opportunity” to first multi-MW projects• Investments in project development are now happening with goal to deliver first 5-20MW

projects by 2014/15• Typical investment required: ~€70m for a 10MW project• However time is our most precious resource• Hurdles:

=

Current context: costs of small prototype projects are high

10 20 30 MW

COST OF ELECTRICITY

p/kW

h

OPERATING COSTS

p/kW

h

10 20 30 MW

CAPITAL COSTS

£/M

W

10 20 30 MW

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CAPITAL COSTWITH CAPACITY

Cost of energy

Cost reduction drivers:- Technological advances- Cost of capital - Economies of scale

Source: European Commission ATLAS. Figures in 2000 £

OPENING COSTFOR MARINE

(200

3 £)

Source: IIASA/WEC, and PWP estimates

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Key policy instruments

Cumulative capacity

Conceptual phase

First-of-a-kind

Capital cost

Normal learning curve Extended learningRapid

learning

Cumulative capacity

Conceptual phase

First-of-a-kind

Capital cost

Normal learning curve Extended learningRapid

learning

Investment risk

Cumulative finance

• Market pull– Tariffs to give ‘sight of market’ for first 1000MW– Objective: Cost competitive with offshore wind

• Market push– Capital support for first off 10MW multi-machine farm projects

• Both required

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Environmental aspects

• Sea space: 20MW/km2

• Energy payback: 1-2 years• Decommissioning – steel

recycling (similar to ships)

2600m

600m

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What ocean energy can offer

CLIMATE CHANGE

SECURITY OF SUPPLY

ECONOMIC BENEFIT

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Thankyou!