EUREKA PROJECT 1219
ARCHIMEDES WAVE SWING
TPOWER
HE UNDERWATER
STATION
The sea is free. The boundless energy that
keeps the oceans in constant movement
ought to be a cheap, clean source of
power. But how to extract this power has
remained a puzzle. Now EUREKA project
1219 - ARCHIMEDES - has successfully tested
a model of an underwater hydro-electric
plant that could supply up to 9 Gigawatt-
hours of energy each year, enough to
supply some 3,000 households. And the
technology has other aces up its sleeve - it
is quiet, unobtrusive and non-polluting.
A unique approach to a familiar
problem
In the 1980s, the search for an economically
viable system that could convert wave
energy into electricity became something
akin to that for the Holy Grail. Many com-
panies dedicated huge sums of money and
time to the quest, but the results were,
almost without exception, disappointing.
Now, a team of European researchers
appears to be on the verge of succeeding
where others failed.
Known in full as the Archimedes Wave
Swing (AWS), the new plant is different from
other wave energy systems because it uses
the submarine swell of the water column
rather than surface motion to generate
electricity. The wave swing, which will have
a diameter of about 25 metres and a height
of 30 metres, consists of a buoyant air
chamber that is attached to a non-moving
base that sits on the seabed. The swell
moves the air chamber up and down, and
the vertical movement is converted mechani-
cally into electricity. Depending on the
amount of swell, a single wave swing is
expected to produce between 6 and 9 GWh
of energy per year. And because swell is
more or less unaffected by wind and tide,
the electrical output will be constant, and
thus easily managed.
ARCHIMEDES was the idea of Fred Gardner
of Teamwork Technology of Zijdewind in
the Netherlands. His initial design has been
developed in collaboration with Alpha
Thames Engineering, a specialist engineer-
ing company based in the UK, and FBO-
Consultores, a Portuguese engineering con-
sultancy. Hans van Breugel, Teamwork’s
Managing Director, explains the benefit of
collaborating: “ARCHIMEDES required tech-
nology that already existed in the offshore
oil and gas industry, so we contacted the
offshore engineering company, Alpha
Thames, for that expertise. We had also
identified the coastline of Portugal as being
ideal for ARCHIMEDES so we needed a
Portuguese partner to help us locate a suit-
able site. An approach to the Dutch Embassy
in Portugal resulted in our relationship with
FBO.”
Teamwork Technology has a good relation-
ship with staff at the EUREKA office in the
Netherlands so, given the international
nature of the collaboration, the company
approached them to help get the project
off the ground. EUREKA provided an estab-
lished framework within which the partners
could collaborate.
Scale models
In this project the researchers built two scale
models. A 1:20 model has been tested in
wave flumes in Holland, while a 1:50 model
has undergone successful trials in Cork,
Ireland. These prototypes have clearly dem-
onstrated that the concept works, and the
team is now raising funds to build a full-
scale model for trials in Portugal. The Portu-
guese coastline provides optimal conditions
for ARCHIMEDES for several reasons. First,
it faces the open expanse of the North
Atlantic Ocean, providing plenty of swell.
Secondly, the coastline is a good place to
land electricity cables because it isn’t partic-
ularly rocky. In addition much of Portugal’s
population is based around the coast, so
electricity distribution infrastructure is close
by. Another important factor is the climate -
storms are rare in summer, so there is a
good weather window for installation and
subsequent maintenance.
To date, the Dutch government has allocated
funds for the next phase of work and a
positive response from the Portuguese gov-
ernment is expected. A consortium of indus-
trial partners that includes FBO-Consultores
and a Portuguese electricity company has
been set up to manufacture the power
plants.
The main interest in the project for Alpha
Thames was to diversify their offshore
expertise into wave energy projects. With
this achieved, the collaboration with Team-
work Technology has blossomed, with other
joint projects already under way.
The future for wave energy
The project’s next phase has a three-year
time span, but Mr van Breugel believes the
technology will reach the market quicker
than that. “If we move fast and the weather
is good to us, it should be possible to install
a full-scale wave swing by the summer of
1999. The worst case is the summer of the
year 2000. And although we are allowing
for a full three years of operation, we will
know if ARCHIMEDES is viable after the first
year.”
If it is viable, Portugal could be looking for-
ward to a future of cheap and environmen-
tally friendly energy. A network of wave
swings could significantly add to the
country’s present hydro-electric generating
capacity. Wave swings are also likely to
prove popular because, being underwater,
they take up no space and are easier on
the eye than wind turbines. Furthermore
each wave swing has an estimated life span
of 25 years, and because the technology is
simple, it is easy to remove or replace after
this time.
The benefits of ARCHIMEDES could also
spread internationally, Mr van Breugel says.
“Basically the technology can be applied
anywhere there is good swell, a coast-based
population and a suitable coastline. We fully
expect many European countries to be inter-
ested as well as those further afield such as
South Africa, Japan and other countries in
Asia.”
Project Profile
∑! 1219
Acronym ARCHIMEDES
WAVE SWING
Title: Archimedes
Wave Swing (AWS):
energy out of waves
Participants: Netherlands:
Teamwork
Technology B.V.
Portugal:
FBO-Consultores
United Kingdom:
Alpha Thames
Engineering Ltd
Main Contact: Hans van Breugel
Teamwork
© EUREKA 0998 . Text: E.S.N. Layout: EUROTEAM
Technology B.V.
Tel: +31 226 423 411
Fax: +31 226 423 433
e-mail: teamwork
@multiweb.nl
Estimated Cost: 1.57 MECU
End Date: January 1998