WAVEGEM®: the wave energy recovery prototype

A platform designed to supply electricity to marine or island installations

The WAVEGEM® platform is a hybrid autonomous energy production platform which is designed to supply marine or island installations without access to the electricity grid, providing a source of electricity which respects the environment. WAVEGEM® was developed by GEPS Techno, a company based in the Pays de la Loire region. 

The platform derives its energy from waves by converting the movements of the float into electrical energy through the closed loop circulation of seawater and the conversion of this energy via a low speed turbine.
 

WAVEGEM®, part of the IHES project

The IHES project was initiated in 2015 by Geps Techno based on its own technology for harvesting wave energy from floating structures. The project has two parts:
 

• The development of a ship stabilization system with energy recovery, the prototype for which has been on board Ifremer’s Thalassa ship since September 2016.
• The development and demonstration of an autonomous platform, called WAVEGEM®, and the production of a prototype measuring 21m x 14m and 7m high, with installed capacity of 150 kW. Testing will be carried out at sea, on the Centrale Nantes SEM-REV site.

The prototype was developed by a consortium of partners: Geps Techno, IFREMER, Centrale Nantes, Chantiers de l'Atlantique, Blue Solutions, SNEF and ICAM.*

2019-2021: 18 months of testing on SEM-REV

The platform was installed on the SEM-REV site on 21 August 2019, kicking off 18 months of offshore testing. The platform is secured with a four-point synthetic mooring system. The device joins FLOATGEN, the floating wind turbine, on site since Spring 2018.
 

• Read about the installation

Objectives for the 18-months of offshore testing 

• confirm performance and reliability
• allow associated design tools to be calibrated
• test subsystems (new generators, energy storage etc), which will thus benefit from preferential access to testing in real conditions at sea.
• serve as a showpiece, allowing future customers to better understand the characteristics of the platform and its ability to meet their needs in terms of energy production as well as to host autonomous applications.

The first target markets are the offshore oil and marine energy sector, as an auxiliary means of energy production, but also small islands in conjunction, or not, with other systems of electricity production.

* The project is financed by Bpifrance as part of the Investments for the Future Program, by the Pays de la Loire Region and by the European Union as part of the FORESEA programme.
 

• Geps Techno, programme leader, imagined, designed, built the float and the energy production system
• Ifremer conducted tank testing and the offshore test environmental survey
• SNEF installed the float and cabling
• Chantiers de l'Atlantique supervised all the construction and coordinated the logistic operations
• Centrale Nantes made its SEM-REV test site available
• Blue Solutions of the Bolloré Group contributed to the storage mechanism and provided the supercapacities
• ICAM Nantes participated in the definition of the control-command systems.