Projects

Anchoring

Providing clean energy to ships anchored at sea, waiting to pick up new freight. At the moment ships that wait for freight or good prices have to either run diesel generators or let their main engines run to provide power for light and airco. A diesel generator cost more than wave energy and running the main engine is a real financial burden. A couple of Slow Mills could provide the electric power demand for light and airco of mid sized ships. In lower wave conditions however, generator assistance will be needed.
Offshore Rigs

Providing clean energy to offshore oil and gas platforms that now use diesel generators. Oil companies are under pressure to become more sustainable and should lead the market into cleaner production methods. Wave energy can assist in the transition. As the price of wave energy is not that high, the business case can be made where wave energy could supplant diesel generated electricity at sea which is not only polluting but also quite expensive. A couple of Slow Mills could provide the electric needs of a small platform.
Windfarms

Protecting and supporting wind farms at sea. Waves pounding on windturbines necessitate heavy and expensive monopoles. Protection by a Slow Mill wave farm lessens wave impact and during storms wind turbines can shut down early to prevent wear and tear while the wave farm provides full power. Thus the lifetime of a wind farm could possibly be extended by more than 20%. With an additional 20% peak energy of the wave farm, total useable output from the same location could increase by more than 40%. As utilisation rates of the power cable and electrical socket at sea improve accordingly and less infrastructure is needed for stand by power, buffering and grid integration, total whole chain cost can decrease significantly.
Islands

Powering coastal area's and islands. Most islands depend on the main land for grey energy supply and the Slow Mill could help them become sustainable and independent. The cost of constantly importing diesel from land or the construction of a power cable, could be double the cost of wave energy. Islands usually don't maintain heavy industry, making for relative low energy demand. But their coast lines tend to be relatively large, allowing them to export clean wave energy to the main land. In some cases they can be the stepping stone between a wave farm further at sea and the main land.

Texel Pilot

In March 2018, a research project was started to make Texel sustainable through wave energy. A consortium of 6 partners, Slow Mill, Rotec, Ingenieurs Bureau Rotterdam, Deltares, NIOZ and Innnoship started initial research and engineering of the first phase of a 2,5 years project that will connect a 400 kW Slow Mill Prototype to the Texel grid.

First a scale model will be build, ca. 8m long, 10m deep, 2m diameter to generate about 25 kW in normal North Sea conditions. The tests will be conducted off the coast of Texel, Ameland and possibly at Light Island Goeree, together with RWS. Texel municipality and companies decided to finance construction of the test model's anchor, anticipating a grant of the Waddenfonds and NH. At ca. 3-4 km off the coast of Texel a gravity anchor will be lowered to the sea floor and tests of stability, strength, biodiversity and handling will be performed. Important and innovative research objectives include the connection, installation and decommissioning without any large offshore equipment.

As soon as the scale model performs well, a full scale prototype will be built and connected to the high voltage grid of Texel. After that, a small series can be built.

The first Dutch North Sea wave farm will be built off the coast of Texel to obtain clean energy without horizon pollution, increase biodiversity and explore synergies like mariculture, coastal protection, fishing and tourism while reducing cost and emissions. About 10% of the West Texel coastline is needed to make Texel fully sustainable. Construction of a scale model (1:2,5) was begun for open sea trials in 2020. Objectives are to demonstrate the ability to generate electric power from North Sea waves and survive the harsh maritime conditions. Research will be done on conservation and fouling techniques to optimise maintenance and testing will include power optimisation trials in various sea states.

Deltares tested several versions of a Slow Mill wave farm in a variety of conditions to better understand the effects of a wave farm on the environment. Behind a wave farm a considerable wake will develop which could enhance economic functions in that area like wind energy, mariculture or coastal protection.

NIOZ has done extensive research on the anchor 4 km off the coast, concluding that biodiversity at the anchor increased 30-50% compared the sandy sea bottom and individual life organisms increased by a factor 400.

Explore innovative technologies and distinctive energy solutions

Discover innovative energy solutions with Slow Mill Sustainable Power BV.