Project Neptune is a Wave Energy Scotland funded project running for two years from May 2017 to May 2019 as part of the Stage 3 Power Take Off Call. The main objectives of the project are as follows:
- Demonstrate C-GEN in a real environment, at a relevant scale and under realistic load profiles.
- ndustrialise the design and manufacture of C-GEN for marine renewable applications.
- Obtain certification/qualification from an independent body.
- Align the commercial strategy with device developers for a full scale Stage 4 demonstrator
The University of Edinburgh is the project lead supported by the following partners:
- Hayward Tyler Ltd - manufacturer of electrical machines.
- Fountain design Ltd. - Project Neptune manager and prototype manufacturer
- University of Strathclyde - reliability, O&M and condition monitoring.
- Carnegie Clean Energy - wave device developer of the CETO-6, providing physical data for design.
- Laminaria - wave device developer providing physical data for design.
- Supply Design Ltd. - designer and manufacturer of customised power electronic converters.
Project Neptune is divided into a number of work packages outline below:
WP1: Project Management: to manage all partners in the project effectively to successfully deliver all the project outcomes within time and budget, whilst mitigating known and unknown risks as and when they occur.
WP2: Engineering and Manufacturing Design: to finalise and obtain certification of the integrated electro-mechanical design of the Stage 3 demonstrator, providing full CAD drawings signed off for component manufacture.
WP3: Operation and Maintenance Analysis: provide experimental data and develop processes to support the targets for reliability, availability, maintainability and OPEX.
WP4: Generator Component Manufacture and Assembly: to manufacture all components and machine modules based on the design from WP2 in compliance with DNVGL recommendations, to ensure quality and final certification of the manufacturing process.
WP5: Sensor Array, Control & Condition Monitoring: to implement a sensor based condition monitoring and control system on the Stage 3 C-GEN demonstrator.
WP6: Marine Installation Installation: to liaise with Forth Ports and to prepare the infrastructure and sub-contractors for wet testing in the dock.
WP7: C-GEN Demonstrator Test Programme: to test the Stage 3 C-GEN demonstrator in a real environment taking into account typical load profiles, fault conditions, and to use results for design verification and demonstration of the main USPs of the C-GEN technology.
WP8: Engineering Design Tool Refinement: to make the existing design tools more industrialised by including manufacturing aspects, and including any changes as a result of DNVGL recommendations and experimental testing in WP7.
WP9: Further technology developments: to investigate new technologies that could enhance the performance and reliability of C-GEN and expand the number of devices to which C-GEN could be applied.
WP10: Design Case Studies and LCOE Analysis: To complete industrial designs of C-GEN with power conversion and LCOE analysis for the wave energy device partners, including interface engineering to the device, control and grid connection for single devices, but extending up to 100MW arrays.
WP11: Commercialisation, Market and Economic Feasibility: The purpose of this WP is to gather all the information from the other work packages and analyse its influence on the economic and life-cycle assessment of the C-GEN generator technology. This will involve de-risking and reducing the uncertainties on the development of the C-GEN generator technology in order to find the business opportunities of this new technology and find associated conclusions/recommendations for the whole wave energy sector regarding the path forward. The ultimate goal is to deliver bankable, commercial wave energy projects.
WP12: C-GEN Technology Optimisation: WP12 cuts across all WPs with the objective being to optimise the processes involved in industrialising, commercialising and certifying C-GEN technology for marine and wider sectors.
