CorPower Ocean has installed its first commercial scale WEC (wave energy converter) in northern Portugal.
The CorPower C4 device was launched in the port of Viana do Castello and towed to the Aguçadoura site located 4 km offshore. After connecting to a pre-installed UMACK anchor on the seabed, the device was connected to the Portuguese national grid through a subsea export cable. The system will now undergo a commissioning program, with functions and operational modes being gradually verified. Operations and maintenance (O&M) methods for offshore service access, device retrieval and tow-back to the on-land service base will also be tested.
“This is a big milestone for CorPower Ocean and a very exciting chapter for marine energy,” said CorPower Ocean Chief Executive Officer Patrik Möller. “I am hugely proud of the entire CorPower Ocean team who have worked relentlessly to make this happen. The effort of the team and our partners to take us here is simply remarkable.”
The C4 previously completed a one-year dry test program with simulated wave loading in Stockholm, to tune and debug the system. It incorporates technology to unleash the full potential of wave energy at utility-scale, including storm protection for extreme conditions and advanced control technology for amplified power capture in regular sea states, according to a release.
Having entered the final phase of a structured five-stage product verification process, which began in 2012, CorPower Ocean aims to take its technology to a type certified bankable technology offering in the coming years.
The Hiwave-5 Project is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency and Portugal 2020 through AICEP Global (Norte2020) and CCDR-N. CorPower Ocean has also been financially supported by EIT InnoEnergy, the European Commission, Wave Energy Scotland, CoreSpring New Technology, ALMI Invest Greentech, SEB Greentech VC and additional private investors. And CorPower Ocean is receiving wide support from utilities and project developers engaging in efforts to bring wave energy technology to a bankable product offering, including EU-SCORES project partners ENEL Green Power, EDP and Simply Blue Group.
