An online, risk driven, condition monitoring, predictive maintenance management and design upscaling tool for marine energy devices (RISKMAN)

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£5,881,320

Nov. 1, 2017

March 31, 2019

For marine energy to compete with other energy systems, a step reduction in CAPEX/OPEX and increase in

availability times (AVT) is required. Albatern WaveNet scalable wave energy convertors (WECs) at 7.5kW scale,

in grid arrays, have achieved a several fold CAPEX reduction compared with alternative designs, and at 1GW

grid scale aim to achieve a levelised elecricity cost of £150MWhr, competitive with offshore wind, by 2024. As

an enabling technology for this target an online, in-service, risk driven; condition monitoring, predictive

maintenance management and design upscaling tool (RISKMAN) will be developed for WECs FOR THE FIRST

TIME, to achieve a step OPEX reduction, AVT enhancement and design life optimisation. RISKMAN will input

monitored fatigue cycle (vibration spectra) into theoretical models of fatigue life, refined by historic reliability

data, to derive probability distribution functions for the remaining life of generator components and hence

optimised maintenance schedules. RISKMAN will be a generic system applicable to all types of WECs, for

exploitation of all the huge wave resources in poor, off-grid and island communities in developing countries.