The Waveram
The Waveram is a single-bodied, seaworthy, spar buoy, designed for utility-scale arrays in the most energetic deep-water offshore sites, such as the Atlantic off the West of Ireland and similar ocean sites in the Americas and Australasia.
A surface-piercing float supports a neutrally buoyant inertial mass of seawater and the ballast required for the design displacement. This combination of buoy, inertial mass and ballast is arranged to hold an internal column of seawater, open at the bottom and enclosed at the top within the float. An air plenum between the two is connected to a high-pressure accumulator. As the spar buoy oscillates in heave it reacts, via the air plenum, against the internal column of water. This action pumps air into a high-pressure air accumulator, sufficiently large to ensure a close-to-steady air flow through air turbines. These turbines will operate at high rpm , driving switched reluctance generators, thus providing simple, compact, and robust power trains. All moving parts will be securely housed above the waterline, and suitable for in-factory servicing and quick replacement.
Lead Company: Waveram Ltd
Waveram Limited is a campus company within the School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin. Its directors combine extensive experience in wave energy technology, managing utility-scale renewable assets, and corporate governance.
Other consortium members
Subcontractors
