The Milford Haven Wave Dragon Pre-Commercial Demonstrator is a floating slack moored wave energy converter with a rated capacity of 4-7MW.
The Wave Dragon device allows ocean waves to overtop a ramp which elevates water to a reservoir above sea level. This creates a ‘head’ of water which is subsequently released through a number of turbines and in this way transformed into electricity. Water is returned to the vents in the base of the unit.
 Water is elevated to the reservoir where it is stored temporarily before falling into the turbine chambers thus converting mechanical wave energy to electrical output directly. The only moving part is the turbine itself.
The unit comprises:
- central housing, with a large water reservoir which receives water from oncoming waves via a ramp, and an array of hydro turbines. A transformer is located on top of the housing
- two lateral wave reflecting arms which concentrate the power of incoming waves
A screen with a grill size of 50mm will be fitted around the turbines. This will protect marine mammals and larger fish and prevent marine debris (nets, wood, containers etc) from damaging the turbines. The experience from the 15,600 hours operative experience so far with our prototype shows that neither fish nor marine debris accumulate in the reservoir.
The unit will be moored to a number of gravity anchor blocks placed at the sea bed.
Final decision on colour of the Wave Dragon unit will be made following the results of the visual and navigational assessment.
The preliminary demonstrator device dimensions are:
Distance between tips of arms
| 300m | Arm length
| 145m | Length (tip of arm to rear of central housing)
| 170m | | Maximum height above sea-level (in minimum and maximum floating position) | 6-3 m | | Draught (in minimum and maximum floating position) | 11-14m |
In-depth information on the Wave Dragon technology is available on www.wavedragon.net.
|
Technology 
