Seabased

Key takeaways

Seabased belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Seabased to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Seabased from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Seabased is a developer of wave power technology, originally based in Sweden and now headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Multiple devices have been tested in Sweden and Norway, and a wave farm is being constructed in Ghana, although this project has experienced delays. The company has announced ambitious plans for many projects, although few of these have yet come to fruition. Seabased is working with the United Nations on developing a regulatory framework for deploying wave energy in Small Island Developing States, including Bermuda, to help them transition away from fossil fuel power.

Device concept The device concept has a buoy floating on the surface, which is tethered via a steel cable to a seabed-mounted device containing a three-phase direct-drive (i.e without gearbox) linear generator. It is classified as an offshore point-absorber type wave energy converter (WEC), and it works primarily in heave (up-and-down motion). Key properties of the deployed WECs and their generators are given below, with rated power at a stroke speed of 0.7 metres per second (2.3 ft/s).

History The WEC concept was originally developed at Uppsala University, it was originally commercialised by the Swedish spin-out company Seabased Industry AB (SIAB). Seabased demonstrated the technology at several locations between 2006 and 2016. Early tests were conducted at the Islandsberg Test Site at Lysekil on the west coast of Sweden, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Gothenburg. The water depth at the site is about 25 metres (82 ft), located at 34°11.74′N 11°22.44′E. A total of 12 WECs were tested between March 2006 and August 2009.

Runde, Norway In September 2009, two Seabased WECs and an underwater substation were installed off the coast of Runde, Norway, at the MAREN test site of the Runde Environmental Centre. The project was in partnership with Vattenfall, and was connected to the local 22 kV electricity grid. The devices were located about 400 metres (1,300 ft) to the west of the island of Runde, in water depths of 45 to 90 metres (148 to 295 ft) at 62°23′18″N 5°35′32″E. There were technical problems with the devices, and they were removed in 2013.

Sotenäs, Sweden

An array of 36 Seabased WECs totalling 1 MW and a subsea substation was installed off the coast of Kungshamn, Sotenäs in June 2014, at about 50 m water depth. The devices were connected to the Swedish electricity grid in 2015, via a 10 kilometres (6 mi) subsea cable. The project was started in November 2011 and there were plans to deploy a further 9 MW at the site, however the project ended by 2018 as funding ran out. The generators are still in-situ as an artificial reef.

Ada Foah Energy Project, Ghana

Seabased and TC's Energy are developing a wave farm in the Gulf of Guinea, about 17 kilometres (11 mi) off the coast of Ada Foah in Ghana. In 2014, a power purchase agreement was signed to provide 1,000 MW of electricity to the Electricity Company of Ghana. The first phase of the project was in installed in 2015 with the onshore switchgear connecting the first phase of wave energy converters to the local grid. In March 2018, a power purchase agreement was signed with TC's Energy for a 100 MW project. However, the project stalled. In 2020, plans were announced to revive the project, with finance from Power China covering 85% of the project cost, the remaining 15% bourne by TC's Energy Ghana.

Future plans Various announcements have been made by Seabased to develop wave farms (or wave parks) in various locations around the world. In 2018, CEO Oivind Magnussen acknowledged in an interview with Forbes that this could be "difficult".

In June 2024, Seabased announced a memorandum of understanding with the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation, to develop a pilot wave farm in Barbados. The initial plans are for 2 MW, and used to support the production of green hydrogen, however this could be expanded to 10 MW or more in future. In 2023, plans to develop a 40 MW wave park in Bermuda progressed with the introduction of a "regulatory sandbox" making it easier to install innovative technologies. The project has been mooted since 2018. In May 2018, a 5 MW pilot park in Gran Canaria was announced, to provide electricity for desalination. Also in 2018, Seabased started developing plans to install a 10 MW wave park in Tonga. In 2015, Seabased had signed a memorandum of understanding to develop wave energy in Andaman Islands, India.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Seabased

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Seabased claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Seabased before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Seabased ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Seabased

In research: Seabased appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Seabased in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Seabased is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Wave energy converters, Wave farms in Sweden, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Seabased outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Seabased in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Seabased means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Seabased out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Seabased in simple terms?

Seabased is a developer of wave power technology, originally based in Sweden and now headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Multiple devices have been tested in Sweden and Norway, and a wave farm is being constructed in Ghana, although this project has experienced delays.

Why does Seabased matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Seabased?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Seabased.