Lir – Ocean Emulator
The Lir OOE is 25m * 18 m and nominally 1m in depth. A central trench, equipped with a moveable floor, allows for testing at water depths between 1 and 2.5m. A curved wall of wave generation paddles allows for omnidirectional wave generation which peaks at Hs = 0.16m, Tp = 1.4s and Hmax = 0.32m. The OOE was constructed following the identification, during MARINET1, of the need for more advanced testing infrastructure at early stage Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs).
The OOE has been designed to:
- Test operational conditions up to TRL4 for wave and offshore wind devices at a scale of c.1:50
- Test survival conditions at a scale of c. 1:100
The basin is fitted with a data acquisition system, sensors, 3D motion camera system and a PIV system for flow visualisation.
Services offered by the infrastructure includes:
- Component testing
- Hydrodynamic Performance
- Power take-off performance
- Site specific wave generation
- Data acquisition & analysis.
More information available here: http://rid.eurocean.org/record.jsp?load=1840
Tecnalia – Electrical PTO Lab
The Electrical PTO-Lab is a turbine emulator to reproduce the mechanical output of an ocean energy device/wind turbine
It consists of a HIL (Hardware in the Loop) test bench for grid connection of wind turbines and ocean energy converters, focused on testing electrical components
(electrical generators and/or power converters). This test bench simulates the power production of a device with a rotary movement and it can be divided into three key elements: Device Emulator, Electrical Generator and Power Converter.
Services currently offered by the infrastructure:
- Mathematical Model validation.
- WEC Control: tuning of controllers, optimum efficiency control, peak to average power control.
- Grid connection control: Interaction between components in an electrical power network in various grid conditions, as strong grid, weak grid and island operation; Investigation of component behaviour during abnormal operation conditions, transient behaviour; Behaviour of converter control system in non- ideal network conditions, as weak grids and island operating modes, transient events, dips and circuit breaker operations etc.
- Final software testing.
- Electrical component testing.
More information available here http://rid.eurocean.org/record.jsp?load=1920&a=1491480226823
ORE Catapult – CPTC Energy Link Lab
ORE Catapult’s UKAS accredited HV laboratory is equipped with an extensive suite of specialist test and measurement equipment, supporting the development of reliable, safe and efficient power systems.
Electricity test capability available:
- Lightning impulse (wet and dry) – 400kV
- AC voltage (wet and dry) – 600kV (3A at 600kV)
- AC voltage partial discharge, RIV – 600kV
- AC voltage capacitance tan delta – 600kV
- DC voltage (wet and dry) – 1MV, 10mA
- AC current (temperature-rise testing) – Up to 8000A
More information available here: http://rid.eurocean.org/record.jsp?load=1823
SINTEF – Smartgrid Lab
NTNU and SINTEF owns the Norwegian National Smart Grid Laboratory in Trondheim. The laboratory is a system-oriented laboratory providing state-of-the-art infrastructure for R&D, demonstration, verification, and testing over a wide range of Smart grid use cases. The laboratory enables us to test the Smart Grids of tomorrow.
Laboratory inventory
- Transmission systems (AC/DC)
- Distribution systems
- Generation (Large scale, DG, wind farms, PV, hydro..)
- Network customers / loads
- AC/DC converters: Voltage Source Converters (VSC) and Multi-Level Converters (MMC)
- Rotating machinery: Induction generators/motors(IG), Synchronous generators/motors (SG), Permanent magnet generators/motors (PM)
- Grid emulator (200 kVA amplifier , DC to 5 kHz)
- Real-Time Digital Simulators, Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) testing equipment and Rapid Control Prototyping(RCP) systems (OPAL-RT)
- Smart meters
- Smart homes- Smart buildings
- Smart appliances
- Energy storage
- EV charging infrastructure
- Protection equipment
- Monitoring and measurement equipment
- Wide area monitoring – Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs)
- Communications
Application areas:
- Smart transmission grids
- HVDC grids
- Smart active distribution grids
- Micro grids
- Integration of Smart Grids, Smart houses and Smart industries
- Integration of renewables (large scale, DG)
- Smart Grid and home automation
- Smart electricity use
- Electrification of transport
- Energy storage in Smart Grids
- Energy conversion in Smart Grids
- Power system stability in Smart Grids
- Monitoring, control and automation in Smart Grids
- Communication technologies for Smart Grids
- Information security and privacy in Smart Grids
- Reliability challenges in Smart Grids dependencies of Power Grid and ICT
- Smart grid software
- Big data management and analytics in SmartGrids
Users:
- National and international research projects
- Test and verification projects
- Industry projects
- PhD candidates
- Post Docs
- Visiting researchers
- Master students
Funded by:
- The Research Council of Norway
- The Norwegian University of Science and Technology
More information available here: http://rid.eurocean.org/record.jsp?load=1821
Den Oever
The Dutch Marine Energy Centre provides excellent opportunities for tidal energy converter testing at intermediate scale. The onshore facility Den Oever is located in two ducts of the Afsluitdijk, in an existing sluice that discharges water from the IJsselmeer to the Wadden Sea. The main function of the sluices always remains dominant; test equipment must be placed in such a way that it can be easily removed or lifted. Basic infrastructure is available, including E&I grid, ADCP, and reaction construction (foundation). The site is typically used for 1:1 scaled river turbine applications, and for 1:4 scaled tidal stream solutions.
Marsdiep
The Dutch Marine Energy Centre provides excellent opportunities for tidal energy converter testing at intermediate scale. The location at Marsdiep is sheltered and well-accessible via the NIOZ harbour, and the water column has a depth of over 20 metres. The Marsdiep location can be equipped with a floating platform. DMEC has the permit to use a near shore location for testing tidal turbines. The location is used by a consortium which developed the floating BlueTEC platform. Under conditions to be set, the platform can be made available for testing. But at the Marsdiep Berth other platforms can be tested as well. Anchor points, umbilical, grid connection can be made available if needed.
PLOCAN
The PLOCAN Marine Test Site is located on the East coast of Gran Canaria Island (Spain, www.plocan.eu). The Canary Islands are located in the Atlantic Ocean, south-west of Spain and Northwest of Africa. The marine test site includes an area of about 23 km2 with a wide range of water depth from shoreline to 600 m. This Marine Test Site is available to projects focused on testing and demonstrating of all kinds of marine devices but mainly marine renewable energy converters. The final testing decision would be conditioned to the appropriateness, opportunity and availability of the facilities.
The electrical and communication infrastructure (REDSUB) is composed of two medium voltage cables (13.2kV) with a capacity of 5MW, each one, within the range of ±1% of 50Hz. The infrastructure will be mostly underwater, comprising hybrid cabling, with copper cables for the transmission of electrical power and fibre optics for data transmission, including a short terrestrial section to connect to the electrical substation on land. The onshore infrastructure will go from the manhole up to the electrical substation (66kV), where the electricity is raised up for its deliver to the national transmission grid. The onshore infrastructure will be composed by an underground medium voltage cable with a capacity of 15MW, by a power transformer station (13.2kV to 66kV) and all electrical protections required. This part will only be available after the Summer of 2017.
More information available here: http://rid.eurocean.org/record.jsp?load=944