Mocean Energy Managing Director Cameron McNatt has joined the Industry Panel of the Net Zero Technology Centre – tasked with informing the Centre’s board on the trends and opportunities a low carbon future will bring.

The industry panel is made up of experts to provide input, feedback and advice to the board, to help the Net Zero Technology Centre develop and deploy technology for an affordable net zero North Sea.

The panel is chaired by the Centre’s board member Neil McCulloch from Spirit Energy and comprises representatives from energy companies including Harbour Energy, BP and Orsted as well as members of the investment community and tier one suppliers.

Roger Esson, Head of Industry and Partner Network at Net Zero Technology Centre said:

“Cameron is a very welcome member of our Industry Panel. Mocean Energy first became involved with Net Zero Technology Centre through our 16-week TechX accelerator programme, designed to help innovative start-ups on the road to commercial success.

“Since then, they have continued to grow, opening an Aberdeen office and developing their technology’s subsea applications through participation in funding calls involving partners throughout the energy supply chain. Cameron brings energy, ideas and significant academic achievement to the panel, alongside growing experience of deploying technology at sea.”

Earlier this year Mocean Energy teamed up with energy storage developers EC-OG alongside Harbour Energy, Baker Hughes and AUV specialists Modus on a demonstration project, part-funded by the Net Zero Technology Centre, to trial the use of subsea power in laboratory conditions, with offshore deployment trials planned for Spring next year.

Commenting on his panel role, McNatt says:

“It’s a privilege to sit on the industry panel and contribute to the rapidly evolving debate on how we decarbonise offshore operations. As we strive to net zero the accelerating uptake of renewable technologies means the value of energy from the North Sea could actually double and I am keen to ensure wave energy plays a key part in this transition.”   

This summer the firm successfully deployed their Blue X wave energy machine at Scapa Flow in Orkney, where the 10kW prototype has been undergoing a series of tests.

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Mocean Energy’s Blue X wave energy machine has returned to dock after a successful five-month test period at sea.

In the last few days the 20-metre long, 38-tonne wave machine has been towed from EMEC’s Scapa Flow test site to Kirkwall and has been lifted onto Hatston Pier, where it will be cleaned, inspected, and maintained until next year’s testing programme commences.

The innovative 10kW prototype began its test phase in mid-June and since then has completed 154 days at sea, delivering steady outputs of up to 5 kW and safe instantaneous peaks of 30 kW, and operating in sea states up to 2.3 meters maximum wave height [Hs max].

Commenting on the test phase Mocean Energy Managing Director Cameron McNatt says:

“This has been an immensely valuable period where we have been able to understand how our machine operates in real sea conditions and gain practical experience in operations including towing, installation, removal, and access at sea.

“We’ve been able to unmoor, tow and moor the machine multiple times, trial the use of solar panels on deck, send commands from shore, test power production and compare our results against our numerical predictions.

“This has given us tremendous confidence in our design – both in its ability to capture wave energy effectively, and also the way in which it dives below the biggest waves, enabling it to shed the heaviest loads.

“Of course, we have been able to rely on the expertise of a number of partners and subcontractors and would like to thank Wave Energy Scotland, EMEC, Blackfish, Leask Marine, the University of Edinburgh and Supply Design, plus many other individuals and companies who have helped us on our way.”

Next year, the wave pioneers plan to put the device to sea in Orkney again and will connect the machine to a subsea battery which will be used to power a remotely operated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) – with potential applications for oil and gas offshore operators.

The deployment and demonstration of the Blue X at EMEC has been funded by Wave Energy Scotland and supported by Interreg North-West Europe’s Ocean DEMO project.

Tim Hurst, Managing Director of Wave Energy Scotland said:

“It is only through testing technologies at sea that we can demonstrate the real potential for wave energy to make a significant contribution to the world’s ever-growing green energy demands.

“The success of Mocean Energy underscores the merits of Wave Energy Scotland’s stage gate selection process which has fostered a collaborative cross-industry approach from day one.

“In the years ahead, we will see Mocean Energy scale up its wave energy convertors to produce future technologies with potential to help decarbonise the oil and gas sector and deliver grid-scale electricity.  

“At this moment, the UK Government is actively considering implementing a ring-fenced market support mechanism for marine energy, which could enable Britain’s wave and tidal sector to take a global lead.

“Post-COP, it is vital Britain puts a ring-fence in place and uses every lever it can to support home-grown technologies which can create a net zero future.”

The Blue X manufacture and testing programme has been supported by £3.3 million from Wave Energy Scotland (WES) through their Novel Wave Energy Converter programme.

Earlier this year Mocean Energy announced a £1.6 million project with NZTC, oil major Harbour Energy and subsea specialists EC-OG and Modus to demonstrate the potential of the Blue X prototype to power a subsea battery and a remote underwater vehicle – using onshore testing at EC-OG’s Aberdeen facility.

The Blue X wave machine was fabricated in Scotland. Numerous hardware and services were supplied by companies who have developed capabilities though the WES programme, including The University of Edinburgh who supplied their CGEN generator, Supply Design and Blackfish Engineering Design.

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Mocean Energy has opened a new dedicated office in Aberdeen to meet growing oil and gas interest in decarbonisation of North Sea assets.

The Edinburgh-headquartered specialists are developing a wave energy machine – called the Blue Star – to provide zero carbon power to subsea equipment and future fleets of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).

They currently have their first prototype under test at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.

The Aberdeen office is being headed up by the firm’s commercial director Ian Crossland who brings over twenty year’s oil and gas experience, focused on the introduction of disruptive technologies worldwide.

He is backed up by an engineering manager, a design engineer and an industry PhD student. The four-strong Aberdeen team is part of Mocean Energy’s total staff complement of 16, which is set to grow further in the year ahead.

Ian Crossland said:

“There is increasing interest in decarbonising North Sea operations and this new office enables us to meet our customers in person to better understand how our technology can meet their needs.

“By bringing the power source close to where it is required, and combining with subsea batteries, Blue Star technology will offer a zero carbon, lower-cost option to umbilicals seen in traditional hub and spoke applications,” Crossland says.

Earlier this year Mocean Energy teamed up with energy storage developers EC-OG alongside Harbour Energy, Baker Hughes and AUV specialists Modus on a demonstration project, part-funded by the Net Zero Technology Centre, to trial the use of subsea power in laboratory conditions, with offshore deployment trials planned for Spring next year.

The development and deployment of their at-sea prototype has been made possible through £3.3 million from Wave Energy Scotland (WES).

Commenting on the company’s plans, WES managing Director Tim Hurst said:

“Wave energy has tremendous potential – both in specific applications such as oil and gas, and in the longer term as a significant source of low carbon electricity. We congratulate Mocean Energy on their commercial focus and the contribution their technology can make to a net zero North Sea.”

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Mocean Energy has teamed up with energy major Chrysaor, subsea energy storage experts EC-OG and AUV specialist Modus in a project to look at using renewables for subsea power.

The project, funded by the partners together with the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC), will look to use Mocean Energy’s Blue Star wave energy converter and EC-OG’s HALO subsea energy storage system to power subsea tiebacks or residential AUVs.

If industry feedback is positive, the partners will press ahead with a technology field trial using a Mocean Energy prototype in the seas off Orkney later this year.

Once proven, these technologies could provide vital backup power in case of umbilical failure, with potential to provide green power for future fleets of autonomous AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles).

“Our first step will be an industry workshop at the OGTC in Aberdeen on 27 February where we will gather information on real-world applications and our field trial plans,” explains Mocean Energy Managing Director Cameron McNatt.

“We then plan to forge ahead with a field trial later this year at our test site in Orkney.”

Last year, Mocean Energy secured £3.3 million from Wave Energy Scotland to build and test a half-scale version of their technology at sea. The device is currently being fabricated.

“This project gives us the opportunity to put our prototype to real use and will give us the chance to draw on the subsea expertise of our project partners.

“It is a genuine opportunity to showcase the potential for renewable energy to power a subsea application,” McNatt concludes.

Commenting on the project Nigel Ward, Chief Commercial Officer at Modus said: “This project will demonstrate capability to provide temporary or semi-permanent modular subsea residency for HAUV systems controlled by over the horizon technology.  This innovative approach to survey and inspection will reduce the numbers of personnel offshore, providing significant safety benefits and cost savings.”

Paul Slorach, business development director from EC-OG said: “Our goal with this project is to demonstrate not just the technical feasibility, but also the financial benefits and carbon savings from using renewable energy to power subsea infrastructure.”

Myrtle Dawes, Solution Centre Director at the OGTC added: “This project is a phenomenal example of cross-industry collaboration – one that brings together EC-OG, who were one of the first companies the OGTC supported, with Mocean Energy, who graduated from our TechX programme at the end of 2019 – to deliver an innovative technology that can help accelerate the industry’s move towards a net zero carbon economy.

“The upcoming industry workshop will be key in forging closer cross-industry partnerships, allowing us to transform how we operate, inspire innovation and ultimately see the North Sea lead the way in energy transition technologies.”

Any firm wishing to participate in the workshop can register via Eventbrite here, or can email cameron.mcnatt@mocean.energy.

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With the Wave Energy Scotland Annual Conference coming up, the fourth that WES has held and the fourth that Mocean will attend, company co-founder and managing director Cameron McNatt reflects on Mocean’s expereince in the WES programme.

Have you ever been waiting to find out something really important, something that would change your life, and with the assumption that one result would be great, and one would be bad? 

There’s a feeling in the pit of your stomach, an anxiety that can be oppressive.  

It’s a situation that is made worse when you’re surrounded by people, and by people that know you’re waiting on the decision, and by people that may even know the result… know your fate.  

At last year’s Wave Energy Scotland Annual Conference, that was exactly how I felt.  

Mocean Energy had submitted its application to move from the WES Novel WEC (NWEC) Stage 2 programme to the Stage 3 programme, which came with an award of £3.3m.  

Despite our best efforts to have a backup plan if we didn’t get the WES funding, co-founder Chris Retzler and I had no fall back. If we didn’t get the funding, it would have been the end of Mocean Energy. I would have been out of a job with a wife and three kids. And Chris would have been affected, and Andrea our IDCORE student, and Gabriel who we’d promised a job. 

But this year’s WES conference will be much more relaxing. Mocean Energy was extremely fortunate; we were awarded the NWEC Stage 3 funding and are halfway through our prototype build and test programme – fabrication is ongoing; the WEC will be launched in the spring and tested over the summer.  

I don’t blame WES for the situation – hanging-by-a-thread scenarios are part of being a startup, and it’s the path we chose. I just wanted to give a sense of the emotional experience, and I’d like to tell you more about our experience in the WES programme in as honest a way as I can. 

WES uses a unique technology evaluation system that gives space for innovation. 

As far as I know, Wave Energy Scotland is unique as a funding body focused on a specific technology sector and staffed by sector experts. WES personnel have outstanding credentials in wave energy and related industries spanning disciplines from technical to strategic. Many worked at wave energy companies themselves. And they all share a passion to grow wave energy into a commercially viable industry.  

WES created a stage gate process that enables a thorough and third-party evaluation of technologies throughout their development lifecycle; see above figure.  

For example, the Novel WEC programme began with a European-wide call for applications for Stage 1. Those applications were evaluated by WES staff and external experts to select eight companies for Stage 1, which could be characterized as “R&D and Concept Engineering”. Between Stage 1 and Stage 2, there was a stage gate in which the eight Stage 1 companies submitted application packs for Stage 2 that covered the results of Stage 1, the development plan for Stage 2, and technical and commercial ambitions.  

Again, the stage gate applications were evaluated by WES and third-party experts. Four companies were selected for NWEC Stage 2, which was roughly speaking a “FEED” (front end engineering design). At the end of Stage 2, the stage gate process was repeated to select two companies to enter Stage 3, which consists of the build and testing of a sea-going prototype.  

Technology development in any field, and perhaps in particular wave energy, feels the pull of somewhat conflicting drivers:  

1. Develop the best technology – this takes time and is often driven by technologists. 
2. Develop the technology fast – this reduces time to market and is often driven by investors. 

(For a more thorough description, see Jochem Weber’s work on Technology Performance Levels.)  

WES aims to support path 1 – best technology. They fund promising early-stage development, and while their programmes have structure and objectives, you design your own work programme around that. This gave us funding to develop our technology when it was only a rough concept, and it allowed us to develop it our own way – we focus on numerical optimisation to produce new geometries, and throughout the stages, we’ve incorporated three major design optimisations, giving us the opportunity for continual improvement. 

However, the WES programme also has its own rigidity. Each stage has a pre-set time limit, and at the end of a stage, developers have no choice but to move up in TRL; there’s not funding to repeat a stage. You can imagine that in some circumstances, a great technology may not have been quite ready to move up and needed a bit more time in early design. And if we had been left to our own devices, we would have spent more time at early stages ourselves.  

This is the trade-off, development speed is driven by commercial considerations, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. WES has its own customers:  the Scottish Government and the Scottish people – it needs to show progress and the best way to do this is to “put steel in the water.” 

The WES funding mechanism positions companies for commercial development and investment. 

But the same is true for Mocean Energy– the WES Stage 3 prototype build and test programme has been instrumental for us to get commercial traction. It is much easier to speak to potential customers when you can say, we are building a prototype now, which will take us to TRL 6. 

The WES programme uses a funding mechanism called “pre-commercial procurement” – and the key benefit of this is that WES can fund 100 percent of a technology development project. In contrast, most other public funding supports a percentage of a project (e.g. 30-70 percent), which means that the funded company must invest some its own budget or bring in external investment.

As far as I know, WES’s 100 percent funding support is unique to technology development funding (aside perhaps from defence and space programmes). This funding mechanism was absolutely essential to Mocean Energy being launched as a company. In 2015, when Mocean Energy was founded and when we applied for the WES Novel WEC Stage 1 funding, wave energy companies, Pelamis and Aquamarine Power had just collapsed after receiving millions in investment over many years. There was no way that Mocean Energy could have attracted investment to match grant funding. 

WES and the Scottish Government took a necessary risk, but it paid off. The situation for wave energy today is vastly different than it was in 2015. Mocean are engaged with an exciting emerging market segment within oil and gas as part of its energy transition; we are building a sea-going prototype that is one step away from a commercial product. And as we near the end of our WES journey, we are preparing for seed investment which will help transform us from an R&D company to a commercial operation.  

It is easy to speak highly of WES when we have been successful in the programme, but we think that the WES programme and the support from the Scottish Government have given wave energy another chance. We are extremely grateful, and we hope to do our part in creating a viable wave energy industry.  

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Mocean Energy’s Seabase technology has just completed a programme of intensive testing at the world-leading wave tank at the University Centrale Nantes.

The ten-day programme was supported through the EU’s MARINET programme which enabled Mocean Energy to test a 10th-scale model of Seabase in the university’s main ocean tank.

“This work was extremely valuable,” explains Chris Retzler, Mocean Energy’s Technical Director.

“It has given us the opportunity to test Seabase in regular waves and to characterise the model response and to validate numerical models. 

“Further tests in irregular waves will provide data to calculate the output power in real sea conditions, whilst tests in the largest waves will indicate the survival capability of the machine.

“This will then pave the way to building a larger-scale prototype for testing at sea by 2022.

“We are extremely grateful to both the MARINET programme and to Nantes for their help,” Retzler concludes.

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After 3 years of technical development funded by Wave Energy Scotland, we finally have had the opportunity to present some of our results at the 2019 European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference in Naples, Italy.

A draft version of the paper is attached below.

The paper describes the results of our Stage 2 WES project, in which we developed a novel wave energy converter (WEC) geometry through numerical optimisation, tested it in the FloWave wave tank, and validated our numerical model.

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Wave energy pioneers Mocean Energy have selected the University of Edinburgh’s C-GEN technology to provide the power take-off (PTO) for their first half-scale wave energy prototype.

In January this year Mocean Energy secured £3.3 million from Wave Energy Scotland (WES) to develop and build a scale prototype of their Blue Horizon wave machine which will be deployed in Orkney next year.

Now the Edinburgh start-up has chosen C-GEN technology to provide the power take-off system for their utility-scale demonstrator.

C-GEN is a novel direct-drive generator developed by The University of Edinburgh which is highly efficient over a wide range of wave conditions. The university is also currently engaged with WES in a separate project to develop and demonstrate C-GEN technology.

The two teams will now build a test rig, which will be tested at the facilities of specialist power electronics developer, Supply Design, in Rosyth, where they can put the C-GEN PTO through performance and acceptance testing using representative wave data. The same PTO will then be installed in Mocean Energy’s half-scale prototype which will be manufactured in Scotland later this year.

“To date our focus has been on the hydrodynamic and mechanical performance of Blue Horizon,” explains Mocean Energy Managing Director Cameron McNatt.

“Blue Horizon is a hinged raft with a unique geometry which flexes in two dimensions via a relatively slow-moving single hinge. C-GEN is a good match for us because it delivers high efficiencies in the right range of speeds.

“Our test programme will ensure we optimise the performance of both technologies to extract the maximum mechanical energy from our operational machine,” McNatt concludes.

The news has been welcomed by ProfessorMarkus Mueller from the University of Edinburgh who says:

“The integration of the C-GEN generator into Mocean’s wave energy device is an exciting development, pushing forward the benefits of the modular direct drive generator from marine test rig to marine environment operation.

“This programme will allow us to industrialise the design and manufacture of C-GEN for marine renewable applications and demonstrate C-GEN in a real environment, at a relevant scale and under realistic load profiles,” Dr Mueller concludes.

Tim Hurst, Managing Director at Wave Energy Scotland said:

“Wave Energy Scotland appreciate Mocean Energy’s progress within our Novel Wave Energy Converter programme.  

“Their project will be the first use of C-GEN technology in a real wave energy converter and reflects the success of the WES program at uniting technology development programs to produce a complete working system.

“The cooperation between Mocean Energy and University of Edinburgh illustrates the benefits to the sector of greater collaboration and partnership. This is a significant milestone for the Mocean Energy team and prepares the way for the build of the device itself and subsequent deployment and testing at sea in 2020,” Hurst concludes.

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As the oil and gas sector faces up to the challenges presented by climate change, particularly in light of the net-zero by 2050 target set by the UK, many long-established firms are looking at novel approaches to lower their carbon impact. One of these new solutions is being developed by wave energy start-up Mocean Energy. Here company founder and managing director Cameron McNatt reflects on the challenge the industry faces, and how the Oil and Gas Technology Centre’s business accelerator, TechX, is helping companies like his to make a difference offshore.

The room at 20 Queens Road, Aberdeen is dim, the screen along the wall is still lit with the last slide of our presentation on Branding and Communications. I sit with rest of my TechX cohort in groups of five or six around three long tables, and the discussion has turned to a controversial topic: the reputation of oil and gas in a climate-conscious world.

“I’ve really struggled to attract new talent,” says one company CEO. “Graduates just don’t want to go into oil and gas anymore.”

“We’ve spoken with a number of investors who are very interested in our technology but are reluctant to support companies engaging with the oil industry,” says another.

At Mocean Energy, we also face a dilemma: we’re a renewables company whose aim is to reduce CO2 emissions, but I’m spending my summer in the Oil and Gas Technology Centre’s flagship business accelerator, TechX.

I want to tell you why.

Only two miles down the road, oil giant BP is in the firing line as climate activists protest outside the firm’s AGM.  At one point, some break into the event, screaming “this is a crime scene”.

But BP isn’t doing nothing. The pressure to address climate change is coming from within too.

In fact, at the very same AGM they passed Resolution 22 (with 99.1 percent of investors voting for) which states that the company will set out a strategy to follow the goals of the Paris Agreement including “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C…”

Their strategy includes balancing oil and gas investment with investment in other energy generation technologies and reducing operational greenhouse gas emissions – in other words, decarbonising the way they work.

Another major, Equinor, is the poster child for the integrated transition from oil and gas to renewables, changing its name from Statoil, and developing floating offshore wind farms to power oil platforms.

Already their first 30MW farm is generating green energy off the coast of Peterhead, not many miles from where we are all sat.

Similarly, the OGTC with its ear to the pulse of the industry is setting in place roadmaps for addressing climate change through oil and gas industry activities. A near-term target is integrating marine renewable energy into offshore systems, and in the long term ambition is a global net-zero industry.

At Mocean Energy, our vision is to create renewable wave energy technology to support low-carbon utility-scale energy production. However, we must take a practical approach: developing solutions for problems in markets where the economics work today.

That is why we are developing Seabase, a compact wave energy converter which will provide reliable renewable energy to power a range of subsea applications – from subsea control systems to ROVs and fully autonomous underwater vehicles.

The offshore oil and gas industry needs energy at sea and it needs to decarbonise its processes. We can help them do both.

Powering offshore equipment with wave energy displaces energy generated by diesel generators or gas turbines. Another application for Seabase technology is to power ROVs so that they can remain resident at a well sites, carrying out repeated maintenance while being operated from shore. This reduces large vessel usage and the corresponding emissions and, of course, cost.

Our long-term ambition is to generate grid-scale wave power. But meanwhile, we believe that by selling our technology in non-grid markets today, we can learn by doing and reduce costs to create a pathway to large-scale wave energy.

No single firm can take this journey alone. And that is why I have been so delighted to spend time in Aberdeen, sharing our experience and meeting others with a passion to change the way in which the oil and gas industry operates.

The TechX scheme is a great example of the industry taking a leading role – giving tailored support to start-up firms who are delivering technologies that will position the oil and gas industry for a sustainable, low-carbon future. I, for one, have already benefitted greatly from the process.

Scotland has extraordinary experience and expertise in the maritime operations – and if companies such as Mocean Energy can engage with the offshore industry as both a supplier and a collaborator within  the supply chain, we can help in the long-term transition of the UK offshore industry from oil and gas to renewable energy.

The oil boom of the 1970s heralded an incredible era of innovation in and around Aberdeen. My hope is the climate emergency of today drives a similar boom in green technology bringing export opportunities and delivering new skilled jobs to the sector, whilst building a better world for the generations to come.

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Our wave energy converter comprises two hulls connected by a hinge and moored to the seabed. Waves cause the hulls to flex about the hinge driving an internal generator

What makes Mocean Energy’s design unique is the shape of the hulls. The sloped channels on the front and rear increase wave forces and change the body dynamics so that the machine responds resonantly over a broad spectrum of waves yet dives through steep waves to reduce unwanted loads.

This design has been developed by Mocean founders Cameron McNatt and Chris Retzler using computational optimisation and rigorous tank testing at the University of Edinburgh’s world-leading ocean energy test facilities.

The Benefits

Performance

Mocean hull geometries have sloped channels that extend from each end, which:

• increase wave forces by angling into the wave flow, rather than sitting on the water surface like a flat barge.
• alter the mass-spring response of the machine so that the hinge flexes resonantly over a broad spectrum of wavelengths. Mass is affected by entrapping fluid mass within the channels and the spring force is created by the natural buoyancy of the hulls in the water. The asymmetry of the shape creates beneficial coupling between the surge, heave and pitch motions of the hulls.

Survivability

The sloped submerged sections greatly improve survivability in storm conditions. They lower the centre of gravity, which makes the device more stable. In extreme seas, the nose causes the machine to dive through large waves (like a surfer swimming out to sea), rather than being lifted out the water and then slamming on re-entry.

Reliability

Our design is mechanically simple, consisting of two bodies moving about a single two-dimensional joint, which means there will be fewer parts that could fail.

Affordability

The structure and the generators are one of the most significant costs of any wave energy machine. The design means that it absorbs at least twice as much power for a given size than a traditional hinged-raft converter and its resonant response means that required generator torques are lower. More power is absorbed for a given amount of structural material and generator rating, which lowers the cost of energy.

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