Seatricity moorings set for summer decommissioning

Wave energy developer Seatricity has set a timetable to remove all residual mooring equipment used for Oceanus 2 wave energy device testing at Wave Hub.

The decommissioning operation is expected to last up to ten days to remove five clump weights and lower elements of the mooring lines from the seabed, as that is the only infrastructure left in relation to Oceanus 2 deployment.

The moorings, consisting of five gravity anchors made of a single main reactive clump and four smaller clumps, were installed on May 31, 2014.

The first Oceanus 2 installation followed less than a month later. After series of trials, the Oceanus 2 device was recovered to Falmouth on August 20, 2016, and was not deployed since.

Whilst all efforts will be made to avoid diving, a dive team will also be on stand-by to support if required, according to Seatricity.

To remind, Devon-based marine contractor Keynvor MorLift (KML) was hired last year to perform the decommissioning.

KML will use the Severn Sea survey vessel, and Sarah Grey multicat vessel, to perform the retrieval with the assistance of the Ocean Enterprise support catamaran workboat.

As reported earlier, Seatricity planned to continue the trials on the Oceanus 2 device in 2017, but due to delays with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant funding, and the infrastructure decommissioning deadline, the testing of Oceanus 2 device at Wave Hub was discontinued.

Wave Hub is a grid-connected site for testing wave energy converters located offshore Hayle on the north coast of Cornwall, at the eastern edge of the Atlantic Ocean.