H2OCEAN

Development of a wind-wave power open-sea platform equipped for hydrogen generation with support for multiple users of energy

The increasing interest for a low carbon economy, together with the potential of offshore renewables, has opened an opportunity to develop new concepts for multi-use offshore platforms with energy harvesting as a core activity. H2OCEAN goes a step further and gathers a set of individually proven technologies (renewable energy harvesting + hydrogen generation + aquaculture + environmental monitoring) to develop a proof-of-concept design for a fully integrated multi-component and multi-purpose platform to exploit far offshore ocean resources in a sustainable way and assess the impact at both, environmental and economic levels. Its flexible design will be easily adapted to address the requirements of a particular location and local economics worldwide.
Coordinator:
Armando J. PALOMAR
AWS TRUEPOWER, ES
Email: ajpalomar[a]awstruepower.com
Project Topic EU contribution Duration From
N° 288145 FP7-OCEAN-2011-1
Multi-use offshore platforms		 €4,525,934 36 months January 2012
Partners:
Spain (Coordinator), Denmark, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom
During the first 18 months, H2OCEAN has completed a varied set of objectives and results. The stakeholder requirements for an H2OCEAN system have been identified and analysed, including design constraints and system boundaries and interfaces. Based on this, three sites have been selected (North Atlantic Ocean, North Sea and Mediterranean Sea) to develop and test an H2OCEAN design. An outline design specification for the H2OCEAN concept has been produced in the form of a 'Technical dimension paper', specifying key parameters (electrical output, fresh water, hydrogen and oxygen, aquaculture farm) and a glossary of terms. An aerodynamic modelling of a floating Verticalaxis wind turbines (VAWT), considering unsteady wind profiles and platform motions has been developed (incl. hydrodynamic, gyroscopic, inertia and mooring), and individual modules have been validated with data. Based on the P80 WEC (Wave Energy Converter), an integrated
WEC+VAWT hydrodynamic model has been built and design sensitivities have been conducted for a range of VAWT parameters. Regarding hydrogen generation, electrolysis technologies have been evaluated with the requirements of an H2OCEAN design and a low pressure alkaline electrolyser has been selected. A preliminary design of the offshore desalination system has been completed as well. Regarding aquaculture, the specific combination of species to be cultured at each site (fish, shellfish and seaweeds) has been defined, full production programmes have developed and transportation requirements analysed and determined. A broad environmental impact scoping study for the three sites has been produced (European directives, baseline conditions/impacts, potential impact factors, broad identification of stakeholders, recommendations for the Environmental Impact Assessment, etc). A pilot version of the software tool to evaluate H2OCEAN optimal
locations has been prepared and data selected from relevant databases are being incorporated in a continuously open process, while the operating scenarios for the selected sites are created. The basis of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been defined ('from cradle to grave', operative framework and collaborative tool). Also, the cost structure for equipment and functional units has been completed and an adaptable tool to collect data on every cost has been prepared. Finally, the requirements specification from technology developers has been collected and a functional analysis of the H2OCEAN design has been completed, including a preliminary design of platform units, process flow diagrams, block flow diagram, work center summary and functional layout diagram.