A critical aspect of offshore operations is the weather conditions required to perform different types of operations.

By adapting its design to allow for worse weather conditions during installation and maintenance activities, Wavepiston reduces its dependency on favorable weather windows. This allows Wavepiston—depending on specific site conditions—to act quicker and in shorter timeframes, eventually reducing costs and lowering the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE).

One of Wavepiston’s design requirements is that the wave energy converter (WEC) can be towed and installed in normal weather conditions (significant wave height (Hs) up to 1.5 m).

In October, Wavepiston, together with Alan Henry and Aidan Flaherty, successfully tested towing procedures (scale 1:30) in Northern Ireland. The preliminary results show that a towing speed of 4 knots in Hs<1.5 m is achievable.

This project received funding from the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program.