Context

The Ocean Energy Roadmap indicates that ocean energy could meet 10% of the European Union’s electricity demand by 2050. The seas and oceans could therefore play an important role in meeting one of Europe’s biggest challenges today. This is to ensure the energy transition from a system based on fossil and imported fuels to a flexible and interconnected system based on clean, renewable and infinite domestic resources. The technologies for exploiting wave and tidal resources are not yet mature enough to be used on a large scale because of the still very high LCOE. This pitfall can be addressed with appropriate tools and processes that support market growth and technological innovation.

Objectives

To develop the 2nd generation of a suite of open source software tools for the design and optimisation of wave and tidal farms.

Main achievements

• Identification of end user needs
• Development of numerical tools for structured innovation, stage-gating, deployment and evaluation of wave and tidal farms, from the subsystem to the whole farm
• Integration of the tools and testing with real world deployments in order to achieve a TRL6 software
• Market analysis of the ocean energy sector

Conclusion

DTOceanPlus project made it to develop and demonstrate an open source sotftware suite of second generation design tools for ocean energy technologies including sub-systems, energy capture devices and arrays. These tools support the entire technology innovation process, from concept, through development, to deployment. More broadly, the project also provided an industry standard for communicating technology descriptions throughout the sector. To complement the numerical work, an extensive market analysis of the ocean energy sector is publicly available.

Ressources

Released tool

• Software suite: DTOCEAN+
• Additional documentation: Guidelines for installation |  Technical report
• Scenario creation: Tool | User guide

Public deliverables (PDF)

• Deliverable D2.1 – Results from user-groups consultation
• Deliverable D2.2 – Functional requirements and metrics of 2nd generation design tools
• Deliverable D2.3 – Demonstration methodology
• Deliverable D3.1 – Technical requirements for the implementation of structured innovation in ocean energy systems
• Deliverable D3.2 – Structured Innovation design tool – Alpha version
• Deliverable D3.3 – Testing and verification results of the structured innovation tool – Beta version
• Deliverable D4.1 – Technical requirements for the implementation of a worldclass stage gate assessment framework in ocean energy
• Deliverable D4.2 – Stage Gate tool – Alpha version
• Deliverable D4.3 – Testing and verification results of the stage gate tool – Beta version
• Deliverable D5.1 – Technical requirements for the deployment design tools
• Deliverable D5.2 – Site characterisation – Alpha version
• Deliverable D5.3 – Energy capture tools – Alpha version
• Deliverable D5.4 – Energy transformation tools – Alpha version
• Deliverable D5.5 – Energy delivery tools – Alpha version
• Deliverable D5.6 – Station keeping tools – Alpha version
• Deliverable D5.7 – Logistics and marine operations tools – Alpha version
• Deliverable D5.8 – Testing and verification results of the deployment design tools – Beta version
• Deliverable D6.1 – Technical requirements for the assessment design tools
• Deliverable D6.2 – Performance and energy yield tools – Alpha version
• Deliverable D6.3 – Reliability, availability, maintainability and survivability – Alpha version
• Deliverable D6.4 – System lifetime costs tools – Alpha version
• Deliverable D6.5 – Environmental and social acceptance tools – Alpha version
• Deliverable D6.6 – Testing and verification results of the assessment design tools – Beta version
• Deliverable D7.1 – Standard data formats of ocean energy systems
• Deliverable D7.2 – Detailed description of demonstration scenarios
• Deliverable D7.3 – Scenarios input data
• Deliverable D7.5 – Database visualisation and maintenance tool
• Deliverable D7.6 – Full suite of design tools for devices and arrays
• Deliverable D7.7 – Demonstration results of integrated design tools for wave energy
• Deliverable D7.8 – Demonstration results of integrated design tools for tidal energy
• Deliverable D7.9 – Overall technical and sector recommendations
• Deliverable D8.1 – Potential markets for ocean energy
• Deliverable D8.2 – Analysis of the European supply chain
• Deliverable D8.3 – Feasibility and cost-benefit analysis
• Deliverable D8.4 – Developing ocean energy standards for business management models in ocean energy
• Deliverable D8.5 – Relevant legal, institutional, and political frameworks

Scientific publications

• Garcia-Teruel A., et al. (2022) Design limits for wave energy converters based on the relationship of power and volume obtained through multi-objective optimisation. Renewable Energy. Vol. 200, pp. 492–504
• Apolonia M., et al. (2021) Legal and political barriers and enablers to the deployment of marine renewable energy. Energies. Vol. 14, 4896
• Correia da Fonseca F. X., et al. (2021) A Decision Support Tool for Long-Term Planning of Marine Operations in Ocean Energy Projects. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. Vol. 9, 810
• Kerr P., et al. (2021) Implementing Radical Innovation in Renewable Energy Experience Curves. Energies. Vol. 14, 2364
• Roberts O., et al. (2021) Bringing Structure to the Wave Energy Innovation Process with the Development of a Techno-Economic Tool. Energies. Vol. 14, 8201
• Tunga I., et al. (2021) Addressing European Ocean Energy Challenge: The DTOceanPlus Structured Innovation Tool for Concept Creation and Selection. Energies. Vol. 14, 5988
• Yang Y. & Sønderkær Nielsen J. (2021) Availability-Based Selection of Electricity Delivery Network in Marine Conversion Systems Using Bayesian Network. Energies. Vol. 14, 3574
• Ruiz-Minguela, P., et al. (2020) Review of Systems Engineering (SE) Methods and Their Application to Wave Energy Technology Development. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. Vo. 8, 823
• Villate J. L., et al. (2020) Design tools for offshore renewable energy. DYNA Ingeneria e Industria. Vol. 95, pp. 601-605
• Yang Y. & Sørensen J. D. (2020) Probabilistic Availability Analysis for Marine Energy Transfer Subsystem Using Bayesian Network. Energies. Vol. 13, 5108
• Topper, M.B.R., et al. (2019) Reducing variability in the cost of energy of ocean energy arrays. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Vol. 112, pp. 263-279

Training material

• Webinar #1 – DTOCEAN+ user needs consultation
• Webinar #2 – Digital representation of standard data formats for ocean energy systems
• Webinar #3 – Stage gate design tool for ocean energy
• Webinar #4 – Structured innovation design tool for ocean energy
• Training session #1 – Stage gate tool
• Training session #2 – Deployment and assessment tools
• Final technical workshop

DTOCEAN+ project fact sheet (PDF)

DTOCEAN+ project video

Partners and funding

This project is led by Tecnalia.

The total project budget is €8,000K.

This project received funding from the European Research and Innovation Programme Horizon 2020.

Photo credit: Tecnalia