The goal of NWEC Stage 2 was to develop a new high-performance WEC geometry and progress it to a viable, fully functioning WEC design that can produce electrical energy when installed in a suitable wave site. Each work package was directed to improving the design by iteration, to produce an end design that addressed the WES target metrics, with an overriding emphasis on the real-world engineering and operations that will be required to get a functioning WEC to sea.

The main activities of the project were:

• Further develop the numerical optimisation suite to incorporate non-linearity and better model costs. The use the optimisation to create a final optimised version of the geometry to inform the engineering.
• Design, build and wave-tank test scale models that embody the main features of the revised WEC design, and incorporate as many of the structural features as possible.
• Create the detailed engineering design of a full-scale WEC.
• Specify at a detailed level the PTO components: the magnetic gear and generators, the power electronics and the high-level control.
• Clarify the marine operations that will be required to deploy, retrieve and maintain the WEC.
  Carry out a reliability study that will identify the main failure modes and repair & maintenance strategies.
• Evaluate the capital cost and LCOE of the WEC incorporating uncertainty and assess the WEC design outcomes with metrics.
• Create a Front-End Engineering Design of a large-scale prototype suitable for building in a Stage 3 project, to be deployed and tested at sea.

This team is currently undertaking a Stage 3 project.