Tapping into the World´s Biggest Battery – Ocean Power

Article from Ansys Advantage 2023 Issue 2:

Discover how CorPower Ocean has developed buoys that rise and fall with the movement of ocean waves, transforming the waves’ energy into clean, renewable electricity.

Think of the ocean as the world’s biggest battery. That’s what CorPower Ocean does. The Swedish firm has developed a wave energy technology that heaves with the movement of the ocean. Patented technologies inside the buoys transform the ocean’s wave energy into clean, renewable electricity that can power hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. And unlike wind or solar energy generation systems, CorPower Ocean’s buoys don’t stop generating electricity when the sun sets or the wind settles. The buoys ride the swell of the waves — a more reliable and predictable power source — day and night, helping to balance the grid with clean electricity. Like any technology designed for use at sea, success depends upon the technology’s ability to perform properly under variable and unforgiving conditions. Yet as in any young company with a big idea and a small budget, it’s not possible (or even desirable) to build, haul out to sea, and test prototypes of every single technology or buoy design variant that the company’s engineers might propose.
How best to cost-effectively ensure that designs will survive and perform reliably in these conditions? CorPower Ocean’s engineer’s rely on simulation tools from Ansys.

“We used simulation throughout the design phase. We ran all kinds of simulations involving storms of differing strengths and waves slamming against the hulls of a buoy. We looked at simulations where giant waves washed over the buoys and left them submerged at different depths for a period of time.”
— Javier Verdeguer, Lead Composite Engineer, CorPower Ocean

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