LIFE Project - NoviOcean

The LIFE NOVIOCEAN project has received funding from the LIFE programme, the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action. The project primarily aims at upscaling and demonstrating the first full-scale NoviOcean unit (NO500) with a rated capacity of 500 kW. The total cost of the project is estimated to be 4.5 M€ with 2.1 M€ contribution by the LIFE programme. This five-year-long project will be Performed by Novige AB (coordinating beneficiary) in collaboration with academic and industrial partners in the EU region.

The increased use of intermittent renewables in the energy mix, along with volatile political landscape, makes it more and more challenging to have a stable and well-functioned energy supply. Unlike wind and solar, wave energy has a more stable nature. Due to being off-phased with wind, wave energy can act as an alternative solution to Li-ion batteries, without their known negative environmental issues. Moreover, unlike batteries (which can only store energy), wave energy can supply electricity at a similar or lower price. Hybrid wind-wave energy can bring the baseload supply to 40% vs. 10% if only wind power is used.

NoviOcean is set apart from the competition by being more simple, light-weighted, and strong while using well-proven components. Stable electricity production, longer lifetime, and easier operation lead to lower cost of electricity (LCOE) (e.g., below 60 €/MWh when passing 75 MW deployed, lower than a similar-sized offshore wind farm).

NoviOcean can produce clean/stable electricity at a commercially viable cost. Simple design, less use of materials, and recyclability, along with an effective global licensing strategy, will facilitate local manufacturing, operation, and decommissioning using readily available resources. Furthermore, NoviOcean is suitable for hybrid solar-wave applications (by onboard integration of solar PV) and on-site hydrogen production/storage.

Thus, bridging the gap between the security of supply, sustainability, and competitiveness (3 pillars of EU energy policy). To this end, the LIFE NOVIOCEAN project aims at demonstrating the first full-scale pilot in an offshore environment to prove its scale-up potential and strong advantages to the future energy system.

The overall objective of the LIFE NOVIOCEAN project is to demonstrate our new, highly innovative wave energy concept which is characterized by significantly lower CAPEX per MW and OPEX per MWh electricity produced, compared to existing wave energy converters (WECs).

The project aims to study the feasibility of a pilot NoviOcean unit and to validate its WEC components and systems at an industrially-relevant scale. In this context, we will design, construct, demonstrate, and certify the first full-scale NoviOcean pilot.

The pilot unit will be rated at 500 kW in peak power output and will serve as a base model for future NoviOcean WEC arrays in Europe. Such a pilot approach will be a crucial part of replicating and scaling the technology to other ocean sites in Europe and globally.

The project (and its post-project ambitions) is intended to contribute to: 1. accelerating the shift towards supplying clean, affordable and secure energy, 2. reaching the EU zero pollution ambition, and 3. advancing a sustainable and circular economy.

Planning and Preparation Actions: Involves the detailed design of the pilot NoviOcean NO500 unit with regards to relevant technical specifications, standards, and required operating conditions for the deployment site. This activity will also incorporate the preparations of tender documents, the demonstration plan, and obtaining permits.

Implementation Actions (Manufacturing, Assembly & Pre-commissioning): During this activity, the designed system will be manufactured and assembled with the help of our industrial partners. Furthermore, the power-take-off (PTO) subsystem, auxiliary, and mooring/anchoring systems will be integrated (incl. pilot site mobilization/preparation in the SEM-REV test site in France, procurement/manufacturing of different subsystems, and inspection/pre-commissioning of the pilot).

Implementation Actions (Demonstration & Data Acquisition): During which the deployment of the NO500 pilot, trial runs, concept validation, and adjustments for further improvements will take place.

Monitoring and Evaluation Actions: The performance of the converter is to be monitored for technical and economic assessments (i.e., LCOE and LCA avoided emissions). In addition, the social & environmental impacts and other high-level projects KPIswill be studied in detail with the help of local reference groups and stakeholders.

Dissemination and Communication Actions: This will include the dissemination of the project results and networking with other relevant EU projects and target groups/stakeholders at local, regional, national, and European levels.

Replication and Transferability Actions: Further full-scale transferability/replication strategies in potentially favorable geographic locations will be studied, and the business plan will be adopted toward desired market penetration goals.

Project and Risk Management Actions: The activity stretches the whole project lifecycle and has started with structuring and scheduling the project activities. Monitoring of performance, risks, quality control, and routine reports have all been included to make sure that all the intended actions are effectively implemented.

Considering the massive but still untapped potential of wave energy in the EU, and the added values of NoviOcean, the project directly supports the priorities and strategies of the Green Deal.

The innovative revenue model and simplicity of NoviOcean allow for local fabrication using common and readily available raw materials, improving its scalability potential, and creating jobs throughout the value chain (estimated 30 FTE during the project and 650 FTE after 5 years). The project further aims to raise awareness of 41k and 246k individuals during and 5 years after.

In addition, the NoviOcean system enables highly stable baseload supply as well as flexible grid balancing properties during peak hours which can help accelerate the expansion rate of the smart European smart-grid infrastructure (mid-term).

Moreover, the success of the project can facilitate the rapid acceleration of the clean energy transition on EU islands (short term) and strengthen the green alliance bonds between the EU and regions such as Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific where the need for innovation and sustainability is high, and wave energy resource is abundant (long term).

LCA GHG emissions by using NoviOcean technology are calculated to be 17 kg CO2 eq./MWh, 4% of the European grid emission factor. This translates to the avoided GHG emissions of 320 tons CO2 eq. by the end of the project and 81 k tons CO2 eq./year 5 years after the successful project implementation.

The clean supplied electricity is estimated to be 750 MWh at the end of this project and 188 GWh/year, 5 years after. This means that a commercial 500-kW NoviOcean unit can power approx. 560 households.

Due to its expected effectiveness in capturing energy from waves, NoviOcean is thought to be an efficient shoreline erosion mitigation. Also, both local communities and marine life can benefit from low visual profile and no auditory disturbance of the technology. Moreover, NoviOcean can boost the EU’s hydrogen economy and distribution networks in the future.