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In 2007, the construction of P37, a wave energy plant and floating wind turbine foundation, was initiated at Nakskov Shipyard. P37 is 37 m wide, 25 m long, 6 m high (to deck) and weighs approximately 320 tons – P37 is 1:2.3 scale of the P80 design with some differences on the number of turbines and wave energy converters: It is composed of 10 individual absorbers to collect wave energy and passively rotate the platform to face the incident wave direction. This first test phase was launched without wind turbines to secure stability validation. Floating Power Plant acquired all IP rights from the inventor.

The P37 plant was launched in August 2008 at Lolland, in southern Denmark, for a full offshore test. Test phase 1 had the purpose of documenting platform stability including the impact of the moving wave absorption floaters on overall platform stability. This campaign was also aimed at collecting data from the wave and wind on the installation site – about thirty sensors were installed on the platform.

Results: The test was successful and DTU-Risø and DHI “green-lighted” the installation of wind turbines on the platform. It was confirmed that the platform was stable for mounting wind turbines. Three wind turbines of 11 kW were installed on the platform.

Test phase 2 had the purpose of documenting power to the grid from wind turbines on the floating structure and of documenting the efficiency of the wave energy absorption floaters expressed as hydrodynamic efficiency to provide background data for the engineering of the final Power Take Off system (PTO).

Results: Overall platform stability operated well with the plus/minus 30 degrees boundary limit, the O&M concept for safe access was proven, and the platform’s passive wave vaning capability was confirmed.

Based on the wave, absorption, movement and load measurements from test phase 1 and 2, the wave PTO system was designed for the P80 device. Based on this design, the PTO system for P37 was re-designed and constructed in corporation with Siemens Industry, Fritz Schur Energy, Contech and others. This system was dry-tested before starting the offshore tests. The PTO design work was done in parallel with extensive wave flume testing at DHI to validate and optimise the absorber and the absorber chamber design.

Results: Design validation and scalability to P80, redesign to P37 and aggressive reliability tests. PTO is ready for offshore tests and reduced weight/material use for the P80 platform. The wave flume testing increased wave absorption by over 25% and reduced the absorbed size by over 50%

Test phase 3 started in November 2012 and had the purpose of jointly producing power to the grid – from the wind turbines and the wave absorption floaters. The wave absorption floaters were equipped with the new PTO system. Extreme testing in winter storms was conducted.

Results: An average wave-to-wire efficiency of over 28.0% calculated as the total amount of produced power divided by the total amount of wave energy that hit the plant during the entire test period. This was including down time, O&M, storms, etc. The efficiency of the PTO was higher than predicted.

On 25 September 2013 P37 was put back in offshore operation. This was test phase 4, which had the purpose to further validate reliable power production from wave and wind and to test the newly developed condition monitoring system. This included extreme testing in autumn storms.

Results: In 2013 Floating Power Plant had completed 4 offshore tests with P37, completing over 20 months of grid-connected tests including an average wave-to-wire efficiency of over 30.4% (including downtime, O&M, storms etc.). This phase provided more data of the efficiency of the PTO system and motion of the platform in order to design the device at a commercially viable scale.

P37 is the only wave wind device in the world that has produced joint power to the grid in a real offshore environment.

The conceptual design for P80 was complete and tested at small scale in wave basins. The P80 will be 80 meters wide; has a capacity of 2-3.6 MW wave power and 5 – 8MW wind. There are only four absorbers and a single standard wind turbine of 5-8 MW replaces the three initial wind turbines. The full concept was tested in HMRC (Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre at University College Cork) wave facilities using a wooden model of the P80 at scale 1:50 in August and September 2013. These tests were conducted to find the best configuration of the device and provide data for numerical model development and validation. ​The same device was tested with an operational wind turbine at ECN’s wave and wind facilities in October 2014. The device was operated in combinations of wind and wave conditions appropriate for a commercial-scale device. Special care was taken to determine the maximum mooring loads under extreme wave conditions.

Based on the conceptual P80 design FPP has entered into two project companies in the UK with the goal of deploying 200 MW in stages. To support the commercialisation projects the partner base is being expanded, the technology has stepped into site-specific design and certification is undergoing. This supported by ongoing small scale testing engineering and modelling

As the market pull for floating solutions have been growing rapidly FPP are building further pipeline, developing the promising Power-2-X market segment (including the integration of hydrogen), expanding the team and preparing for commercial demonstration in Spain. The technology has been adapted for larger turbines, validated in basins and a Power-2-X solutions has been developed.