CorPower Ocean has been awarded a €4m grant by the European Commission for its WaveBoost project.
The grant will support a three-year innovation programme targeting improvements in the reliability and performance of wave energy converters by using pneumatic components in combination with advanced control technology.
CorPower said the efforts are expected to “increase energy production, reduce Capex and improve grid integration of wave energy farms, resulting in a reduction in the cost of energy of up to 30%”.
The company’s wave converter is called HiWave and the WaveBoost project brings together renewable energy companies from Sweden, Scotland and Portugal.
They include EDP, the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), WavEC Offshore Renewables, the University of Edinburgh, SP Technical Research Institute, PMC Cylinders and GS-Hydro, as well as CorPower Ocean.
The award follows a review process through the commission’s Horizon 2020 call for funding for low carbon energy technologies, CorPower said.
It is currently performing dry testing of its next wave power plant in Stockholm, and, following full qualification, the system will be installed at EMEC in Scotland during first half of 2017.
EMEC commercial director Oliver Wragg said: “The aim of WaveBoost is to instigate a step-change improvement in the reliability and performance of wave energy drive trains.
“EMEC will be carrying out performance testing and will provide a statement of performance to validate the results.”
Image: half-scale HiWave device (Corpower)
