On 12 January, the IMPACT project successfully held its third project meeting and first meeting of 2022 over Teams. IMPACT is a collaborative research and innovation project involving five European partners. It aims to develop and demonstrate a next-generation testing approach for Wave Energy Converters (WECs).

Phase one to conclude soon

The main focus of the meeting was on providing and receiving updates on each of the tasks within the eight work packages (WPs). The project’s first year is due to conclude next month, when the final specifications of the test rigs will be defined. This will also mark the completion of the Grid Integration and Electrical Compliance work package and the first task of the New Testing Methodologies and Metrics work package.

In connection with this, the meeting also featured a brainstorming discussion on matters that needed to be clarified in relation to rig testing.

“As we are close to concluding the first task in the New Testing Methodologies and Metrics work package, the meeting allowed the partners to have a clear view of the work that has been done in the tasks’ upstream and how they converge in this work package,” says the Work Package Lead, José Miguel Rodrigues of SINTEF Ocean.

“Furthermore, a brainstorming session on the challenges presented in the practical implementation of several suggested testing approaches meant that we could identify them and discuss possible solutions. In this aspect, the many years’ experience of SINTEF Ocean on conducting accelerated tests in other marine applications enabled the participants to get an overview of the most common challenges that we meet in practice.”

The year ahead

2022 will be a busy year for the IMPACT project. We are also excited to be planning our first technical workshop, which is planned to take place in conjunction with the joint ICOE-OEE event in October. We are also due to publish more blog posts, publications and newsletters. Remember to check our website and subscribe to our newsletter to find out about the project’s latest developments and events. We also have a LinkedIn group where we post regular updates.

A change in plans

Initially, the meeting had been planned to be hosted by VGA in Italy and include a tour of their facilities. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, this was not possible, and the meeting had to be moved to Microsoft Teams. However, as we are all well experienced in virtual meetings by now, the transition to Teams went extremely smoothly.

We look forward to the next project meeting, which is due to take place in Trondheim in June 2022, and we hope that we will be able to meet in person as planned.  

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