Wave energy developer CorPower Ocean has secured €9m in equity funding from Midroc New Technology, Almi Invest Greentech, EIT InnoEnergy and a group of private investors.
The money will be used to demonstrate the first commercial scale wave energy converter (WEC) within CorPower’s flagship HiWave-5 project and for the long-term development of supply and service capacity for commercial wave power projects.
The equity funding, which is combined with public investments that co-fund the programme, will support CorPower’s pan-European efforts in Sweden, Portugal, Scotland and Norway, the company said.
CorPower Ocean chief executive Patrik Moller said: “This funding package marks another significant milestone in the firm’s mission to introduce a new class of certified and warrantied WEC products.
“We are pleased to see continued strong support from investors who share our vision of bringing reliable and competitive wave energy technology to the world, unlocking one of the largest untapped sources of clean energy on earth.”
The HiWave-5 demonstration project aims to convert CorPower’s wave technology into a bankable product by 2024, by proving the survivability, performance and economics of a grid-connected array of WECs in northern Portugal.
CorPower said the funding announcement comes shortly after it released plans for a new €16m R&D, manufacturing and service centre in Viana do Castelo, Portugal.
The site will become a core focus for the HiWave-5 project with a showcase pilot wave farm planned in Aguçadoura.
EIT InnoEnergy Scandinavia’s Ingvar Eriksson said: “We have supported CorPower since 2012 and are happy with progress made to this point, having proven the principles and physics of the technology at sea.
“InnoEnergy has evaluated many ocean energy technologies and found CorPower advancing to a leading position in the race to make it a mainstream energy source.
“We look forward to the continued journey and are convinced that CorPower can play a significant role in the evolving sustainable energy mix and contribute to the European decarbonisation targets.”
Midroc New Technology’s Andreas Gunnarsson said: “CorPower keeps delivering on targets and their prudent step-by-step approach brings credibility to the sector.
“This technology definitively has the capacity to make the world a better place and we are happy to see more and more of leading utilities and project developers engaging.”
Almi Invest Greentech’s Markus Hokfelt said: ”We see wave energy as a key technology in the transition to a 100% renewable electricity system. Wave energy can become a balancing source that enables high penetration of renewables with the lowest possible system cost.”