WP07 - Operations & maintenance

This work package will define the cost and time required for the assembly, deployment, operation and decommissioning of the LiftWEC concept. It will assess the constructability, installability, operability and long-term survivability through a combined holistic analysis approach that will identify the operational viability of the LiftWEC concept. The goal of the work package is to account for and analyse all operational phases of the LiftWEC concept and feedback considerations to the device design phase to ensure that the design is feasible for each phase. The work package will also liaise with WP08 and provide it with sufficient detail for the cost of energy calculation.

Initially the WP will focus on precisely defining the design constraints and functional requirements surrounding the installation, operation and decommissioning phases of the device. Once the LiftWEC concept is further defined this WP will identify a viable installation, O&M and decommissioning strategy for the concept assessing that each concept design can be installed, operated and recovered safely, efficiently and cost effectively.

At agreed stages of the LiftWEC concept development, an analysis will be undertaken of required O&M procedures and specific challenges presented by this device will be identified and solutions will be proposed. This work places O&M as a high priority in the design process at a low TRL and will have the expected benefit of keeping costs low throughout the entire project lifetime but also boosting energy output productivity by reducing the downtime of the device due to breakdowns and maintenance. The main aims of the WP are as follow:

• Assess the merits of the novel aspects of the LiftWEC concept in terms of the full lifetime project operational phases 
• Assess whether novel strategies can improve logistics and provide possible savings in the installation, O&M and decommissioning phases 
• Analyse and compare different strategies and versions of the concept design ensuring they are suitable for representative wave energy development sites (through sensitivity analysis and scenarios testing).
• Provide feedback to the concept design work package to ensure that successive design iterations of the concept result in a reduction in LCOE as a result of identifying and adopting operational improvements.