Wave Energy Industry News

BioPower Systems Pty Ltd (BioPower) has finished constructing its prototype wave power unit to be installed off the coast of Port Fairy, Victoria, later this year. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht congratulated BioPower on the achievement, which would advance the renewable wave energy industry in Australia. “The $21 million project, supported by $11 million ARENA funding, aims to move BioPower’s bioWAVE technology towards commercialisation,” Mr Frischknecht said. “If successfully installed, it will be the second ARENA supported wave energy device supplying energy to a major Australian grid, feeding 250kW of renewable energy into the National Electricity Market. “The bioWAVE unit is a 26 metre high steel structure that sways back and forth, mostly below the surface of the ocean.

ARENA today announced $770,000 funding for Swinburne University of Technology to develop modelling on the performance of wave energy farms. The wave energy industry is emerging world-wide and there are few multiple device installations operating today. Predicting the best way to arrange future projects will help to better understand how different technologies will behave in certain circumstances. The modelling aims to discover the best ways of positioning wave arrays so that devices move in synergy with one-another, creating greater efficiencies. Swinburne is collaborating with interested Australian wave energy companies, which will sit on a project steering committee and have offered funding support and staff resources.

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…

Oregon Wave Energy Trust (OWET) has announced the program for the eighth annual Ocean Renewable Energy Conference presented by the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC). “Community and Industry: Collaboration, Innovation and Opportunity” is the theme of the event that takes place September 25-26, 2013 at the Liberty Theater in Astoria, Oregon. Over the past two years, Oregon has been engaged in a one-of-a-kind effort to plan for the development of ocean wave energy in our territorial seas. OWET has been proud to represent the wave energy industry and ensure that the territorial sea plan provides a flexible and reasonable plan for accommodating ocean energy.

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.

AWS Ocean Energy Ltd, one of Scotland’s pioneering wave energy companies, announced that it had secured a major investment from Alstom, a global leader in power generation, power transmission and rail infrastructure. Alstom acquires a 40% equity stake in Inverness-based AWS Ocean Energy. This will give the company the financial strength to expand its operations and accelerate the development of its AWS-III wave power technology. It is Alstom’s first-ever investment in the wave energy sector. The announcement was made June 21 2011 at Edinburgh Castle, at an event hosted by Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister. Alex Salmond, the First Minister…