VATIS UPDATE Article

The National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the United States, has begun validation work on the first water power technology ever tested in an NREL dynamometer facility. “Though designed to benefit the wind industry, the NWTC’s large dynamometer facility is being leveraged to help advance new ocean energy technology,” said Daniel Laird, at NWTC.

NREL is working with US- based Columbia Power Technologies’ StingRAY wave energy converter. Designed to deliver electricity at a competitive cost while having a low environmental impact, its floats and generators convert the energy in ocean waves into electricity. “We are testing the StingRAY at the NWTC because the core design is similar to a wind turbine-it is direct drive, but with a very large diameter,” said Reenst Lesemann, at Columbia Power Technologies.