TotalEnergies has invested to join Renewables for Subsea Power (RSP), the collaborative subsea wave power and storage project off the east coast of Orkney, Scotland.
The £2 million demonstrator initiative is based five kilometres off the coast of Orkney and comprises of Mocean Energy’s Blue X wave energy converter which powers the Halo underwater battery, supplied by energy management specialist, Verlume.
Following £8 million in funding from the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) the project completed an initial four-month test in August 2023 to prove that renewables can be used to power subsea equipment, using battery storage to manage intermittency whilst delivering continuous power output.
Supported by a consortium of partners, such as energy company Harbour Energy, the project aims to demonstrate that these technologies can provide a cost-effective alternative to carbon-intensive umbilical cables.
The exact investment sum from TotalEnergies has not yet been revealed, but the energy major confirmed that it will have access to all data and results from the test programme, whilst also receiving a feasibility assessment of the use of RSP technology at a location of its choice.
“Renewables for Subsea Power is capturing industry-leading project data as we demonstrate how Verlume’s Halo subsea battery storage can reliably power subsea equipment through being recharged by a wave energy device,” said Andy Martin, chief commercial officer at Verlume.
“It is fantastic that TotalEnergies recognises the value of this data and has come on board within RSP to share insights such as further use cases for this technology system.”
