Wave Energy Converter News

Wave energy converter developer Bombora Wave Power (Bombora) has completed tank testing of a floating foundation system suitable for the InSPIRE solution, where Bombora's mWave technology is combined with a wind turbine onto a single floating offshore platform.An adapted version of the semi-submersible INSPIRE platform, developed in partnership with TechnipFMC, underwent tank testing evaluations to confirm the system loads and dynamics at the FloWave test facility at the University of Edinburgh.Head of Loads and Modelling at Bombora…

CorPower Ocean unveiled the CorPower C4, its first commercial scale Wave Energy Converter (WEC) and CorPack clusters, which the company contends will provide the building blocks for utility scale wave farms.Ultimately, the new CorPower C4 device will form part of a four-system wave array, off the coast of Aguçadoura, Portugal, creating a grid-connected wave farms.“This has been a decade-long development, with significant strides in the last few years to industrialise and optimize our wave energy technology," said Patrik Möller, Co-founder & CEO. "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 CorPower C4…

Looking back, it is easy to wonder if one could have done better by taking the other fork in the road. I grew up in Holland in a maritime family and am pretty sure I would have stuck with maritime there. In 1968, when I was 8 years old, my father left Holland America Line and joined the United States Salvage Association. At the same time, their main customer, the U.S. marine insurance industry, became heavily involved in the development of North Sea offshore oil and gas, and it resulted in an economic boom that made USSA’s Rotterdam office wildly profitable.

South Korean wave energy developer INGINE revealed ambitious growth plans for 2022,its10th anniversary.Today the company is approaching a landmark fifth year of wave energy operation in North East Asia, via the Jeju Bukchon Wave Power Plant built in 2015. Additional international projects will see expansion across four continents throughout 2022 and beyond.This includes a Vietnamese and Korean initiative in Quang Ngai province - through a five-party MoU involving Quang Ngai People’s Committee…

In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare coined the phrase “salad days” to mean a youthful time filled with unbridled enthusiasm and idealism. Indeed, youth, much like salad, is often raw, flavorful and most of all… green. Therefore, it is fitting to think of our present time as the salad days of offshore energy in the United States. Let’s dig in.Executive Order appetizersOn January 27, President Biden took early steps to implement his campaign promise to transition the United States away from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy…

With the advent of autonomy on and under the water, part of the value proposition is the ability to stay at sea, on station, to exponentially increase efficiencies. Have the ability to repower at sea is central to this effort, as an increasing number of companies work to solve the inherent technical and logistic problems.Columbia Power Technologies (C-Power) is commencing a six-month sea trial to test and validate its SeaRAY autonomous offshore power system (AOPS), in partnership with a pair of powerhouses: the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. NavyInitially conceived during a U.S.

Mocean Energy, global wave energy player, has teamed up with energy major Chrysaor, subsea energy storage experts EC-OG and AUV specialist Modus in a project to look at using renewables for subsea power.The project, funded by the partners together with the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC), will look to use Mocean Energy’s Blue Star wave energy converter and EC-OG’s HALO subsea energy storage system to power subsea tiebacks or residential AUVs.If industry feedback is positive, the partners will press ahead with a technology field trial using a Mocean Energy prototype in the seas off Orkney later this year.Once proven, these technologies could provide vital backup power in case of umbilical failure…

Italian oil group Eni is joining forces with shipbuilder Fincantieri, power grid group Terna and state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to develop wave power stations.The agreement, which follows the understanding signed last 19 April, will launch the first phase of a joint project to convert the Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter (ISWEC) pilot project, an innovative system that transforms energy generated by waves into electricity, into an industrial scale power station, making its application and use immediately available.The partnership agreement will focus on two phases: during the first phase, the companies will develop a business model and define a deployment plan for Italy.

Wave-generated power could be considered the Rodney Dangerfield of offshore renewable energy sources; it gets no respect. There have been a number of high-profile, expensive failures that have conspired to give the sector a poor reputation despite a number of engineering advances. A new entrant is SurfWEC offering a patented “surf-making” Wave Energy Converter which has been in development since 2007. Its developers promise it will stand out from the field and perform where others have failed. How?

Italian oil group Eni is joining forces with compatriot shipbuilder Fincantieri, power grid group Terna and state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to develop wave power stations.The Chief Executive Officers of the companies have signed a non-binding agreement today at the Eni headquarters in the EUR district of Rome to develop and build wave power stations on an industrial scale.The agreement seeks to combine the knowledge of the collective companies to transform the Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter (ISWEC) pilot project into a project on an industrial scale for immediate application and use. ISWEC is the innovative system that converts energy generated by waves into electricity.

Italian multinational oil and gas company Eni has activated the Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter (ISWEC), offshore Ravenna, capable of converting energy generated by waves into electricity, which will in the future enable Eni to convert mature offshore platforms into renewable energy generation hubs.The pilot plant was installed at the Ravenna offshore site by Eni’s Central Northern District and has been integrated into a hybrid smart grid system featuring photovoltaics and energy storage.It reached a peak power output of over 51 kW, or 103% of its nominal power. This technology is suitable for powering medium and large offshore assets and…

Marine-i has made a grant award to a marine tech company Submarine Technology Ltd (STL) to focus on designing and building a futuristic robotic arm.The arm is a ship-based multi-axis robotic arm and will form an integral part of a new Autonomous Synchronised Stabilised Platform (ASSP) to enable intervention tasks to be carried from Autonomous Surface Vessels (ASV).Submarine Technology Ltd (STL) is based on the Isle of Wight but recently opened an office in Penryn to develop the device, which it hopes will transform autonomous marine operations. Marine-i is a European Regional Development Fund funded programme set up to boost marine innovation in Cornwall."Typical intervention tasks will include equipment transfer and payload management, survey and inspection, launch and recovery.

U.S. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that nine teams have been named finalists in the Wave Energy Prize—a 20-month design-build-test competition—and will proceed to the next phase of the competition. The nine finalists and two alternates, identified from the 17 remaining official qualified teams, will continue their quest to double the energy captured from ocean waves and win a prize purse totaling more than $2 million. Each of the finalists and alternates will now receive seed funding from DOE to develop 1/20th scale models of their wave energy converter (WEC) technologies. These models will be tested at the nation's most advanced wave-making facility…

When one thinks of offshore renewable energy, one usually thinks of offshore wind. For the first time progress is being made in the U.S. to develop offshore wind resources. The first steel foundation jacket has been placed in the ocean floor to support the Deepwater Wind project off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. (See www.dwwind.com/press/#/1). But recently, progress is also being made in the development of tidal and wave energy resources closer to shore, which are known as marine hydrokinetic or MHK resources.

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc., announced today that the PB40 PowerBuoy(R) fabricated for the WavePort Project has shipped from Santander, Spain to Bayonne, NJ with the intent to deploy off the coast of New Jersey in the first quarter of 2015. The PowerBuoy is expected to arrive around mid-November and having been disassembled for transport, will require re-assembly, final checkout and permits before deployment. The PowerBuoy was fabricated with partial funding and support provided under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme and, after evaluation of several sites, New Jersey was selected as the best location for deployment. Final assembly and checkout was completed in Spain, ownership transferred to OPT per the contract and the buoy departed Santander on October 7.

Ricardo has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to administer a ocean Wave Energy Converter (WEC) prize challenge, aimed at helping to bring this potential source of clean energy to commercial scale. Wave energy conversion is technology that uses the motion of ocean waves to create electricity. The WEC Prize aims to attract innovative and next generation ideas from new and existing wave energy developers by offering a monetary prize and providing an opportunity for tank testing and evaluation of scaled WEC prototypes.

Lockheed Martin says it has signed a contract with Victorian Wave Partners Ltd. to begin developing the world’s largest wave energy project yet. The 62.5-megawatt peak power wave energy generation project will be built off the coast of Victoria, Australia, using Ocean Power Technologies' (OPT) PowerBuoy® wave energy converter technology. The company’s PowerBuoy wave generation technology uses a "smart," ocean-going buoy to convert wave energy into low-cost, clean electricity. The buoy moves up and down with the rising and falling of waves.

WaveRoller, the wave energy device created by wave energy developer AW-Energy has received independent performance verification, taking the wave power industry one step closer to commercialization. WaveRoller received its validation after operating in fully exposed ocean environment during testing campaigns in 2012 and 2013. AW-Energy submitted detailed data covering wave conditions and device performance for external verification. Independent verification of the WaveRoller power…

Alstom and SSE Renewables signed a new joint venture agreement to develop the Costa Head Wave Project, an up to 200 MW wave energy site located north of mainland Orkney, in The Crown Estate’s Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Strategic Area. Alstom and SSE Renewables will work together to obtain the necessary permits and intend to populate the site with AWS-III wave energy converters, a technology currently under development by AWS Ocean Energy Ltd, in which Alstom acquired a 40% equity share in June 2011. The Costa Head site is located in water depths of 60 – 75m approximately 5km to the north of Orkney Mainland. SSE Renewables and Alstom propose to carry out detailed site surveys and an environmental impact assessment (EIA)…

Finnish renewable technology developer, Wello Ltd., install Orkney (UK) wave energy converter partnered by Fendercare Marine. Wello Penguin is a unique and patented construction to harvest ocean energy. It is based on industry standard components, including a generator typically used by wind turbines, to allow scalable manufacturing by virtually any shipyard using existing manufacturing processes. Fendercare Marine part of James Fisher and Sons plc were chosen by Wello to provide a range of services as part of the installation, of the 'Penguin' wave energy converter. The Penguin wave energy converter is now floating and connected to a mooring system in the Billia Croo test site.

Northwest Energy Innovations deploys first wave energy converter at National Marine Renewable Energy Center, off Oregon coast. After a multi-day installation operation, Northwest Energy Innovations (NWEI), a Portland-based company, has successfully installed a wave energy device off the coast of Newport, Oregon. The device, known as Wave Energy Technology-New Zealand (WET-NZ), is now deployed at the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center’s (NNMREC) open ocean test facility.