The objective of this study is to assess the environmental and economic performance of a combined wind-wave energy converter over its entire lifecycle. The lifecycle analysis covers embedded costs, energy balance and carbon footprint, right from the raw materials to the final decommissioning. It is demonstrated that Wave Dragon in combination with wind has a 17% lower LCOE than a Wave Dragon without wind turbines. This is due to the fact that wind turbines are a very cost efficient technology when deployed in high wind speed sites if the costs of foundation and grid connection can be kept at a reasonable level - and this is obviously the case when installing on top of a heavy and stable platform like Wave Dragon.
The objective of this study is to assess the environmental and economic performance of a combined wind-wave energy converter (WWEC) over its entire lifecycle. This is also known as a cradle-tograve analysis. The lifecycle analysis (LCA) covers embedded costs, energy consumption and production, and carbon footprint right from the raw materials to the final decommissioning. It is demonstrated that this WWEC has the ability to comply with current and future environmental regulation and that it can deliver a considerable surplus in the energy balance being a part of the entire power system. This means that the energy produced throughout its lifetime is considerably more than the energy consumed by the device during all the lifecycle stages.
Verified figures from LCA of large Vestas and Siemens offshore wind turbines are utilised for the WWEC calculations and the results are compared with other renewables to assess the Wave Dragon WWEC's competitiveness.
Wave Dragon is one of the foremost technologies within the field of wave power. Unlike most other devices, it does not convert the wave energy as a mechanical oscillator, but passively through the overtopping principle (Figure 1). Seagoing trial of the Wave Dragon pre-commercial demonstrator has proven its performance since March 2003 and verified the potential for commercial feasibility with largescale power generation below the cost of offshore wind power.
