Australian developer Bombora Wave Power is planning to deploy a commercial-scale device early next year off the coast of Portugal.
The Perth company will install the first 1.5MW mWave converter at Peniche in what is planned to be ultimately a 40-device array in the Atlantic Ocean.
The second phase will involve a further three to five mWave’s being deployed at a depth of 10 metres at the same location.
Bombora is undertaking an A$8m funding to support the first stage, with an initial A$1m required to fund construction of the first ‘cell’ of the converter.
In a grid connected wave farm, the company estimates each 1.5MW mWave unit will cost A$4.75m to manufacture, deploy and commission.
Bombora chief executive Sam Leighton said: “After nearly a decade of development, testing and refinement, Bombora’s technology will be on the world stage, competing with other renewables in the lucrative energy market within a year.”
The move follows the completion of a levelised cost of energy study funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, which concludes Bombora wave farms will be comparable to the cost of offshore wind and solar in Europe by 2023.
Image: mWave prototype (Bombora Wave Power)
Bombora eyes Portugal wave voyage
Bombora1.5MW mWave device to be installed off Peniche in early 2017
By EBS