To get there, it is necessary to develop the Wave Energy Converter, which is to be explored in the unique Wind and Wave laboratory at Aalborg University, AAU Energy in Esbjerg.

Crestwing has built a 65-ton, 30 meters long prototype, which has been at sea for 14 months. This prototype is named Tordenskiold. It is two large barges connected. When they are rolled by the waves, generators create electricity from the movements (as in the video from an early lab test)

AAU Energy’s role in the EUDP-supported project is to design, develop and implement a controller in the Wave Energy Converter. Associate Professor Mohsen Soltani from AAU Energy in Esbjerg says the MPPT controller rules how the hydro-mechanical power will be converted to electrical power such that maximum energy from the waves is extracted. The generated power is supplied to an onboard microgrid with batteries and power electronics. This ensures the power output is within the regulations of the power grid to which Tordenskiold is connected.

Mohsen Soltani and his team AAU Energy Offshore Research Group will create a simulation of how the system behaves, then test it to verify and improve; afterward, they can scale up, and Crestwing can implement it in Tordenskiold.

Within the last decades, less attention was paid to wave energy than other kinds of renewable energy, but with this project, Crestwing expects to be market ready in two years and on the road to commissioning a wave energy park with 3 WECs, each producing 2.5 MW in cooperating with a developer company.

Tordenskiold does not need structures on the seafloor and is designed to have little or no impact on the environment.

Crestwing CEO, Ruth Bloom, is sure the project from now on is moving fast. With the current challenges for getting sustainable energy, wave energy truly has potential with high efficiency, low price for electricity and good scalability. She sees wave energy as equal and in cooperation with wind and sun. As an example, energy parks in the ocean with wind turbines and wave energy barges, on top of which there are solar cells, and space inside the barges for batteries will provide sustainable energy with high availability.

Ruth Bloom is certain, that the first wave energy park will be realized after the optimization project with AAU Energy, Logimatic Engineering and ShipCon. Crestwing has got a lot of international attention, due to the scalability and that the facilities can be built on local shipyards all over the world, not demanding high-level facilities. Ruth Bloom would like the first park to be built in Denmark and is working on investors and EU funding.

Contact information

Mohsen N Soltani, AAU Energy: sms@energy.aau.dk, (+45) 2184 7943

Ruth Bloom, Crestwing. rb@crestwing.dk, (+45) 2498 8056