The DTOcean (Design Tools for Ocean Energy Arrays) suite of tools for optimising the design of wave and tidal arrays is now available for download at this site. ITPEnergised was a project partner in this project and contributed to developing the hydrodynamic, electrical, operations and maintenance models used within the tools.
The open source software allows developers to assess and automatically optimise the overall Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) of different farm layouts at different sites to aid the site selection process.
DTOcean was a European collaborative project funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development which involved 18 partners from 11 countries under the coordination of the University of Edinburgh.
The DTOcean software automates the layout design of an array of ocean energy converters. The design process is broken into the following stages:
- Array Hydrodynamics (layout variations and power production)
- Electrical Sub-Systems (cable layout and associated hardware)
- Moorings and foundations
- Installation (including the types of vessel for the various operations)
- Operations and Maintenance (through life costs)
The software will evaluate each stage of the design process, and then the design as a whole, using three thematic assessments. These are:
- Economics
- Reliability
- Environmental
The software will seek to optimise the layout to reduce the LCOE and environmental impact as much as possible.
More information on the development of the tool is available here.
ITPEnergised developed the hydrodynamic model for the tidal array modelling tool and made significant contributions to the electrical sub-systems and operations and maintenance modules of the tool. This included developing an algorithm to automate the process of sizing, routing and protecting cables for the transmission system and the inter-array cable networks.
ITPEnergised also led the enabling technologies work package which involved identifying and assessing technologies that should be used more, developed or improved in order to increase reliability and production of marine energy arrays.
ITPEnergised can provide clients with bespoke training in the use of the tool, or undertake a modelling exercise for proposed wave or tidal deployments.
