CorPower Ocean unveils 'commercial scale' wave energy buoy for Portuguese pilot
System of four linked 300kW wave energy converters to be installed at HiWave-5 array off coast of Aguçadoura later this year
Swedish marine energy specialist CorPower Ocean has unveiled its first commercial scale wave energy converter (WEC) and a cluster system of linked buoys that could eventually form utility-scale wave farms.
The CorPower C4 buoy has a 300 kilowatt power rating, and is slated to be combined as a ‘CorPack’ cluster in the four-system HiWave-5 pilot array to be installed off the coast of Aguçadoura in northern Portugal later this year.
“This has been a decade-long development, with significant strides in the last few years to industrialise and optimise our wave energy technology,” CorPower’s chief executive Patrik Möller said.
“We are on track to deliver certified and warrantied WEC products to the market by 2024/25, unleashing the full potential of ‘utility-scale’ wave farms.
“Following today’s launch, we aim to propel wave energy into the future green energy mix as a bankable technology through the HiWave-5 Project.”
The 1.2MW HiWave-5 pilot that will be co-located with a floating wind farm is one of two marine energy farms that combine offshore wind power with solar and wave energy under the European SCalable Offshore Renewable Energy Sources (EU-SCORES) project that last year had already won EU support.
The EU in its offshore renewable energy strategy launched last year had established a 2050 target of 300GW of offshore wind and 60GW of other ocean energy capacity.
CorPower said its lightweight wave systems can be produced rapidly in large volumes and are designed to be delivered as clusters with a 10-20MW rating, forming the building blocks of future large-scale wave farms that feature a ‘plug and play’ compatibility with offshore wind infrastructure.
CorPower Ocean is currently also working with developer Simply Blue on a pre-commercial wave farm off Ireland’s west coast called Saoirse.
“This is a really exciting phase in the movement towards hybrid wave-wind farms as we aim to harness the immense power of the Atlantic Ocean, combining floating offshore wind and wave technology to produce zero-carbon electricity,” Simply Blue CEO Sam Roch-Perks said.
CorPower commercial director Kevin Rebenius added that the relatively small devices are driving down capital expenditure (CAPEX), while the lightweight technology is easy to transport, assemble and install, which then is driving down operational expenditure (OPEX).
“Together this contributes to a highly competitive cost curve, and a clear path to €30 ($31.19) per megawatt hour with GW deployments.”
CorPower Ocean has been financially supported by EIT InnoEnergy, the European Commission, the Swedish Energy Agency, AICEP Global (Norte2020), Wave Energy Scotland, CoreSpring New Technology, ALMI Invest Greentech, SEB Greentech VC and additional private investors.
(Copyright)