Cost, time and risk assessment of different wave energy converter technology development trajectories

Jochem Weber (1) , Daniel Laird , Ronan Costello (2) , Diana Bull (3) , Aurélien Babarit (4) , Kim Nielsen (5) , Claudio Bittencourt-Ferreira , Ben Kennedy (2) , Jesse Roberts

1 NREL - National Renewable Energy Laboratory
2 Wave-Venture
3 SNL - Sandia National Laboratories [Albuquerque]
4 LHEEA - Laboratoire de recherche en Hydrodynamique, Énergétique et Environnement Atmosphérique
5 Rambøll Denmark A/S

This paper presents a comparative assessment of three fundamentally different wave energy converter technology development trajectories. The three technology development trajectories are expressed and visualised as a function of technology readiness levels and technology performance levels. The assessment shows that development trajectories that initially prioritize technology readiness over technology performance are likely to require twice the development time, consume a threefold of the development cost, and are prone to a risk of technical or commercial failure of one order of magnitude higher than those development trajectories that initially prioritize technology performance over technology readiness.

Mots clés: wave energy converter; technology development trajectory; development cost; development time; development risk; technology performance level; technology readiness level

Domaines: Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Energie électrique

Jochem Weber, Daniel Laird, Ronan Costello, Diana Bull, Aurélien Babarit, et al.. Cost, time and risk assessment of different wave energy converter technology development trajectories. 12th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (EWTEC2017), 2017, Cork, Ireland. ⟨hal-01635253⟩