WES Boosts Advanced Control Systems Development for Wave Devices

Wave Energy Scotland (WES) is awarding almost £1m to fund the development of Advanced Control Systems technology for wave energy devices.

The technology aims to reduce the cost of generating electricity from wave energy devices by increasing the amount of energy they can capture.

The two projects selected for this stage of development will see control systems technology demonstrated in model wave devices in Scottish wave tanks such as the FloWave facility in Edinburgh.

The Control System programme is a key element of WES’ portfolio of work that develops components, sub-systems and wave energy devices.

This latest award brings the total invested by WES in wave energy projects to £39.6m. Since 2014 the organization has also supported the development of the best technologies for wave devices, power take-off technology and structural materials.

Tim Hurst, managing director of WES, said: “I’m delighted to see these projects going into stage three to conduct a physical demonstration of their advanced control system concepts.  Both offer promising solutions to managing the efficiency and safety of wave energy converters.  I look forward to their completion next year.