AGITO provides simulation tools for a unique world-class pilot project

Agito is involved in an exciting collaboration project with the offshore wind installation, Flex2power, located in Egersund.

The Flex2power concept aims to harness renewable energy from wind, waves, and solar power on a floating platform offshore.

Revolutionizing Offshore Wind Energy: A Groundbreaking Floating Installation Project

The platform is a floating offshore wind turbine installation that goes beyond just harvesting wind energy.

– It is an unparalleled project on a global scale, as it pioneers a groundbreaking approach never before attempted, explains Einar Tommy Sundal, the visionary behind the floating offshore wind platform and the founder and owner of Flexible Floating Systems AS, the company leading this pioneering project.

The collaboration also includes Terje Handeland from Validé as a business developer, along with IKM and Rosenberg Verft as partners in the project’s development.

SimulationX

Agito is now involved in the project with its simulation tool, SimulationX.

The floating installation is an impressive 306×306 meters in size and consists of several flexible parts. The technology on the platform utilizes the movement of these parts, including wave energy, to generate power through a hydraulic system.

Recently, Flex2Power received a generous grant of 5.4 million Norwegian Kroner from “Ulla-Førrefondet”

– We strongly believe in wave power as a renewable energy source, explains Sundal.

Agito’s role

Agito’s role is in modeling the complete system, particularly the wave energy part, using their expertise in complex system modeling. Through our software, SimulationX, we have created a 3D model of the wave energy part to accurately monitor the system’s electric power generation capabilities under various scenarios, such as different wave movements and other system parameters, explains Kjell Skar, EVP Sales and Marketing Agito AS.

Agito specializes in modeling complex systems.

– We have extensive experience with Simulationx, but this is the first time we are involved in a purely renewable energy project, explains Kjell Skar from Agito.

Einar Sundal, emphasizes the importance of having software that can simulate the correct movements in a wave energy system.

– The system needs to efficiently extract power from the movements and convert it into electricity. SimulationX allows them to verify and identify any potential flaws or limitations in the system’s dynamics. It helps reduce negative surprises during testing and startup of the physical system, providing vital information about the system’s performance, he explains.

Dynamic Motion Transfer for Efficient Energy Production

The floating platform consists of a rigidly framed floater with cube-shaped sections on each corner, totaling four such sections.
As the floater moves in the waves, it experiences both vertical and horizontal movements due to the wave and turbine loads. These movements are transferred to the smaller and lighter cube sections, which must keep up with the motions. Thus, the force acting on the floater is transferred to the flexible cubes.

It is crucial to have the right software

The motion includes more than just simple wave movements; it incorporates all the forces affecting the floater, such as wind and wave forces. This is referred to as motion force.

To effectively harness this system for energy production, it is crucial to have software that can accurately simulate the movements between the floater and the different cube sections. It’s not just the force that matters, but also the movement. A completely rigid system with no motion would not be able to produce energy, as work is the product of force and movement.

Finding the right balance is essential, and this can be simulated and identified through Agito’s simulation tool. By inputting available data, the tool extracts realistic movements from simulations, helping to find the optimal conditions for energy production.

The Flex2power platform is initially unmanned but designed for maintenance visits.

It is connected to an export cable to transfer power to land. The cable includes fiber optics, allowing remote control of the platform from shore.

Successful Collaboration with Agito: Enabling Efficient Hydraulic System Implementation

Einar Sundal praises the collaboration with Agito, emphasizing their valuable contributions to implementing the hydraulic system in the pilot project.

The groundbreaking project has been granted three patents and is currently part of a strategic pilot program. As the timeline progresses, the fabrication of the pilot project is scheduled for the first quarter of 2024.

Prior to the fabrication phase, a rigorous pool test will be carried out using Agito’s advanced simulation software, planned around the New Year of 2023.
This crucial test will take place at the esteemed ocean basin facility at NTNU in Trondheim, conducted by the renowned research organization SINTEF.

The ultimate goal is for Flex2power to get access to the software models build by Agito and play with the different parameters and run different scenarios to see the effect they will have on the system performance. Any changes to the model itself will have to be done by Agito.

They envision getting access to the software models as early as the fall. By doing so, they can play with the models’ settings and get valuable input for adjustment of those for optimization of the physical system performance themselves.

– They envision getting access to the software models as early as the fall. By doing so, they can play with the models and get valuable input for upgrade the physical system  themselves, explains Einar Tommy Sundal.