Storm Babet brought exceptional rainful and very strong winds over a sustained period from 18 – 21 October 2023.
The East coast of Scotland was particularly hard hit, tragically with at least seven people reported to have died and vast infrastructure impact and cost. Our thoughts go to everyone impacted.
At Tadek we closely watched developments as one of our mooring and umbilical designs was exposed to the storm and subjected to 6-7m wave heights.
© Mocean Energy
The Tadek designed mooring and umbilical system for the Mocean BlueX wave energy converter was installed nearly a year ago and remained firmly in place, proving itself operating in extreme conditions. The device continued to deliver power despite the harsh conditions.
The Tadek team delivered a mooring and umbilical design solution to Mocean that enables the BlueX to sit in the ocean with:
- The compliance of movement required for a WEC to remain least restrained to produce maximum power
- 360 degree yaw capability via a novel Tadek-designed mechanical and LV electrical swivel
- System strength capacity to survive 10 year return in North Sea conditions
- A bouyancy assisted lazy wave arrangement accommodating significant excursion in low water depth
- Marine Operations procedures
- Inspection protocols
Mocean Energy commented on LinkedIn: “We saw 6-7m significant wave heights at the test site East of Orkney, and our Blue X #waveenergy converter rode them like a champ! It is great to see that our demonstrator Renewables for Subsea Power project is running smoothly, Blue X continuing to generate power in these tough North Sea conditions.”
Rupert Raymond, Managing Director, commented:
The Tadek designed mooring and umbilical system for the Mocean BlueX wave energy converter was installed nearly a year ago and remained firmly in place, proving itself operating in extreme conditions.
Our engineers diligently model the impact of weather conditions to ensure the mooring and umbilical solutions we deliver are robust and perform even in the extreme conditions like those Storm Babet provided.
We watched performance of the device closely through the storm and are proud that it proved to be such a solid solution despite the challenges. Credit to the team at TADEK and Mocean Energy for delivering such a robust solution and Leask Marine Ltd for the install and ops.
Rupert Raymond, Managing Director
© Mocean Energy’s Blue X prototype at EMEC in Orkney