Julia has contributed towards the technical and industrial development of Wave Dragon technology in several areas. Among other, in the analysis of power performance, study of electrical components, laboratory testing, industry consultation processes and successful proposals writing.
The Wave Dragon is a floating over-topping device designed for water depths of 20 meters or more. The central front face of the device is a curved ramp, up which incoming waves surge (as on a beach). Behind the crest of the ramp lies a reservoir that gathers the water as it spills over the top of the ramp. Energy is extracted as the water captured in the reservoir is allowed to drain back to the sea through a number of low-head hydroelectric turbines located within the reservoir. The amount of energy captured by the device is increased by the long reflector wings mounted on either side of the reservoir, which channel the waves towards the central ramp.
A large scale prototype launched in 2003 was the world’s first offshore grid-connected wave energy device. This test unit supplied electricity to the grid in more than 20,000 hours – a world record.
Wave Dragon has 1.5 to 12 MW of capacity, depending on the local wave climate. A Wave Dragon power station is an array of individual units connected to shore by undersea transmission cables like offshore wind turbines farms. Deployment sites will typically be 5 – 25 km offshore at more than 20 meters depth, to exploit high power wave resources. Wave Dragon has very little environmental impact; the height being less than 7m makes it in many cases invisible from shore.
To learn more about Wave Dragon please watch the following video.