March • 2010
Marine group looks for growth in marine renewables industry with innovative mooring device
Highland-based marine engineering and supplies specialist Gael Force Group is targeting major growth in the fast-developing global marine renewables market, following the announcement by The Crown Estate of the world’s first commercial wave and tidal energy sites, in the Pentland Firth.
The firm has designed an innovative new mooring device which could save wave and tidal power developers substantial amounts of time and money.
The device – called a floatable gravity-based anchor (FGBA) – is a massive can-shaped concrete structure with compartments which can be filled with air to give positive buoyancy, or water to allow the anchor to be deployed. It is used to secure to the seabed different types of wave and tidal energy devices– several designs of which are under development worldwide.
Because the FGBA can be floated into position full of air and sunk gradually under controlled conditions as it fills with water, it is much easier to position accurately than conventional ballast anchors. But the real benefit to marine energy device operators is that there is no need for very high load deployment vessels and cranes, the cost of which can easily run into six figure sums per day. Gael Force’s FGBA can be positioned using much smaller deployment vessels using for example a 10-tonne deck winch for a 400-tonne anchor, meaning safety is much improved while deployment costs are slashed.
Gael Force also says that its gravity anchors, which would typically be deployed with a tension-moored system, will help developers make the most of their allocated sea-bed footprint, allowing them to position the maximum number of wave and tidal power devices possible within the consented space. At the end of the planned life of the development, the anchors can be raised to the surface by pumping air into the buoyancy chambers and can then be towed off site.
The pioneering solution has won the backing of New Jersey based renewables company OPT – Ocean Power Technologies, who has contracted Gael Force to build an initial three 400-tonne FGBAs for the deployment of its PowerBuoy® wave energy device shortly to be installed at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney.
Meanwhile Gael Force is formally launching the FGBA concept to the marine renewables industry at the Scottish Renewables Annual Conference in Glasgow this week. The firm is also talking to a manufacturer on the West Coast of the US about building the devices under licence.
The expected increase in production of anchors, added to current orders for aquaculture feed barges for the fish farming industry, means that Gael Force is considering building a second construction pontoon at its Inverness base and boosting staff numbers to cope with demand.
David Guthrie, Managing Director of Gael Force Group, said: “Through our work in aquaculture and marine engineering, we have many years of experience in the design, manufacture and mooring of structures which have to stand up to the toughest conditions the oceans can throw at them.
“With the well-publicised Government support on offer for the marine renewables industry, the recent allocation of Pentland Firth sites by The Crown Estate, and the race for wave and tidal power devices to be developed, tested and commercialised, we believe our anchor has huge potential to save developers time and money, as well as increasing accuracy and safety during installation.”
In 2006, Scottish Renewables reported that 0.16 GW of Scottish wave and tidal energy could be operational by the end of 2010, and it is estimated that Scottish waters have the potential to generate around one fifth of the UK’s total electricity consumption.
A recent report, “Towards a Low-Carbon Economy for Scotland”, estimates that 26,000 jobs will be created from the renewable sector by 2020, including 20,000 from offshore wind and 2,600 from wave and tidal power.
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