Ocean Energy Conversion

Dr. Raymond Alcorn has spent over fifteen years in research, development, commercialization and implementation of ocean energy from a professional background as a Chartered Electrical Engineer. He progressed from first exposure as an undergraduate electrical engineer, through a PhD and subsequent postgraduate research in the field to spend 4 years in a key managerial and technical role with an Australian based commercial wave energy company. He initially moved back to Ireland to manage its Bluepower Initiative in HMRC, a scheme designed to develop Ireland into an international center of excellence for ocean energy research, technology development, manufacture and deployment. In 2015, Dr. Alcorn spun out a company from UCC, Exceedence Ltd, and as CEO is commercializing techno-financial software for renewables in offshore wind, wave and tidal energy. The company has been involved in numerous ocean energy projects and has helped companies, governments and investors understand and unlock their ocean energy resource potential. He has authored and co-authored several publications in the field, including a book, book chapters and a number of scientific articles, and is a member of IEC Technical Mirror Committee (Ireland), as well as leader of the International Energy Agency's Ocean Energy Systems' Annex III and co-author of its report on the Grid Impact Assessment of Ocean Energy. Professor Tony Lewis founded the Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre at the University College Cork, Ireland. The Centre has been involved in the R&D and support of commercial companies in the development of marine renewable energy systems for more than 30 years. As one of the pioneers of ocean energy, Prof. Lewis was Statutory Lecturer in Hydraulics, wave mechanics, fluids and hydrodynamics, and Lecturer in ocean energy. He has been an external examiner for Ph.D. at a number of universities at the UK, Sweden and Denmark. He was also Expert Evaluator for European Commission for proposals in FP5, FP6 and FP7, Evaluator for Research Awards in Ocean Energy of the Government of Belgium (2009) and Expert Evaluator for the US Department of Energy Marine Hydrokinetic Research Programme (2009, 2010). Between 2994 and 2004, Prof. Lewis was an associate editor of the Ocean Engineering Journal (Pergamon). Since 2004, he has been Alternate Delegate for Ireland to the International Energy Agency Implementing Agreement for Ocean Energy Systems, and in 2006 he became a Founding Board Member of the European Ocean Energy Association. In the meantime he has acted as Coordinating Lead Author for IPPC Special Report on Renewable Energy (SRREN) (2009-2011), Member of IEC Technical Mirror Committee (Ireland), and Member External Advisory Group on Energy to European Commission DG Research FP6. Dr. Wanan Sheng received his B.Sc. degree in physics from Jiangxi Normal University Nanchang, China in 1985; MEng. degree in marine hydrodynamics and test techniques from China Naval Academy, Wuxi, China, and Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Glasgow, U.K., in 1990 and 2004, respectively. He is a Senior Research Fellow with Marine and Renewable Energy Ireland (MaREI), Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Ireland, since 2009. His research areas include hydrodynamics, offshore renewable energy conversion and technology development. He is especially interested in the fundamental research and device development to improve marine renewable energy conversion efficiency and to reduce the cost of offshore renewable energy production. He has published more than 70 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers. He is the member of the editor board for Renewable Energy; and member of scientific committees for OMAE, ISSC V4, and RENEW, and the Irish national expert for IEC standards on marine/offshore renewable energy.