Technology performance level (TPL) assessment
Résumé
Technology development progress, technology value, and technology funding have largely been associated with and driven by technology readiness, measured in Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). Originating primarily from the Space and Defense industries, TRLs focus on procedural implementation of technology developments of large and complex engineering challenges where cost is neither mission critical nor a key design driver. However, wave energy converter (WEC) technology development as a whole has not yet delivered the desired commercial maturity or the desired techno-economic performance by following the TRLs. For energy generation devices such as WECs techno-economic performance considerations should be considered early in the development process, when fundamental conceptual, operational and design choices are being made. Hence, the Technology Performance Levels (TPL) were designed to consider a wide range of WEC attributes that define the techno-economic performance potential as well as identify potential showstoppers at the earliest stages of WEC development. The original groups and attributes of the TPL assessment used in the Wave Energy Prize have been updated using a formal Systems Engineering approach. Systems Engineering is a disciplined approach to holistically evaluating the goals that must be achieved by a technology and the systems that enable achievement of the goals. The first activity was to develop a concise mission statement for the system. This statement sets the framework for the development of the stakeholder needs and the functions. Capabilities and functions are hierarchical structures. In the case of capabilities, the taxonomy embodies the list of characteristics that are desired, from the perspective of the stakeholders, for the system to be successful. In terms of the functions, the hierarchy represents the solution agnostic elements that are needed to meet the stakeholder requirements. A detailed explanation of the life cycle stages, stakeholders, and stakeholder needs can be found in [7] whereas an overview of the systems engineering approach and the functions can be found in [6]. The TPL is designed to be an assessment of the suitability of the technical solution for the customers' needs. Trade-offs in the overall design manifest themselves in the competing TPL criteria. The specific technical solutions chosen for a design are assessed and scored for each capability independently. When all of the capabilities are then combined for the final ranking, these trade-offs become clear. For instance, favoring small amounts of material may receive a high score in terms of capital expenditure, but this may be balanced by a low score in power generation due to small device size.
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