Development of Optimal Control for three different WEC Devices Award Number: DE-EE0007173 CX(s) Applied: B3.16 Water Power Program Date: 8/2/2016 Location(s): CA Office(s): Golden Field Office
Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance
August 22, 2016
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Development of Optimal Control for three different WEC Devices
Award Number: DE-EE0007173
CX(s) Applied: B3.16
Water Power Program
Date: 8/2/2016
Location(s): CA
Office(s): Golden Field Office
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing to provide federal funding to Re Vision Consulting, LLC (Re Vision), to design, manufacture and test an optimal controls framework that can subsequently be applied to three different wave energy converter devices. Project work would include engineering, design, fabrication, lab testing and wave tank testing, as well as field deployment of measurement buoys in two different locations. DOE previously completed a NEPA review for Tasks 1-4 and Task 7 (GFO-0007173-001 CX A9 and B3.6, 11/17/2015). This NEPA determination applies only to Task 5: Wave Prediction System Development.
In Task 5, Re Vision would validate wave prediction algorithms and real time wave prediction using up to eight wave measurement buoys. Task 5 would involve the deployment of up to 8 buoys in the Pacific Ocean at a location near Santa Cruz, CA. Deployment would include 5 separate deployments of one week each, conducted over a 6 month period. Buoys would be deployed and retrieved from a small vessel. During each deployment buoys would be placed in an area no larger than 2.6 square kilometers and spaced no closer than 50 meters apart. The buoys would be small spherical buoys of 32 centimeter diameter and weighing nine pounds each. The buoys will be affixed to the seafloor using an inverse catenary mooring design that consists of a 11-kilogram Danforth anchor bottom weight, approximately 20 feet of chain attached to the anchor, 5/16th polypropylene line, swivels, and a subsurface float-weight-float using approximately 3 feet of chain attached to the surface buoy. The angle or scope of the mooring system will be minimized such that the tension on the line will be maintained by using the weight of the chain on the bottom to keep the line taut running up to the chain attached to the surface buoy to avoid the formation of a bight or loop in the line.