Corpower has completed work on its half-scale wave prototype and is poised to step up development of its C4 commercial-scale device.
The Swedish developer has passed the so-called stage three of its development programme, which consisted of 18 months of dry and ocean testing a 25kW wave generator.
Chief executive Patrik Moller said the C3 work at the European Marine Energy Centre off Orkney had verified “the ability to solve the two major challenges for wave energy – storm survivability combined with significant power production.”
The results of the work have increased the projected performance of the C4, he added.
“With C4, the structural efficiency of wave energy is expected to improve by more than five times compared to current state-of-the-art, bringing wave energy above 10 MWh/ton, which is comparable to leading wind turbines.
“Getting more energy with less equipment means lower CAPEX per MW – smaller lighter machines are easier to handle using low cost vessels, giving less costly operations and maintenance.”