SKF has formed a wave energy technology partnership with Carnegie Clean Energy.
Under the partnership, SKF will work on the design and delivery of Carnegie’s CETO power take-off (PTO) system.
CETO (pictured) is a unique, fully submerged, point absorber type wave energy technology where a submerged buoy sits a few metres below the surface of the ocean and moves with the ocean’s waves.
This motion drives a PTO system that converts it into electricity.
As a first step towards a long-term technical partnership on the commercialisation of Carnegie’s CETO wave energy technology, SKF and Carnegie are collaborating on the design of the PTO units.
SKF provided early PTO bearing and shaft design activities under a development agreement between the companies.
Following completion of those design activities, SKF has subsequently been awarded the contract to manufacture three PTO units for the CETO deployment at the Biscay Marine Energy Platform off the coast of the Basque Country, Spain.
“Carnegie is one of the leading wave energy device developers globally,” said Michael Baumann, global application account manager for ocean energy at SKF.
“Our existing partnership evolved over time from single rotating equipment components to a fully integrated power take-off system which we have been jointly developing with the Carnegie team.
“We are proud to be part of this journey and are looking forward to commercialising the technology going forward.”
Carnegie chief executive Jonathan Fievez welcomed the partnership.
He said: “The SKF partnership reinforces our supply chain with a globally recognised leader that is capable of adding value as we progress CETO’s commercialisation pathway.
“By leveraging SKF’s established expertise and advanced technologies, we are ensuring CETO maintains its position as a leading wave energy solution for the long term.
“We are very pleased to collaborate with SKF, a global rotating equipment and precision manufacturer with production capacity that can match the intended CETO scale-up.”
Recently, SKF partnered with Minesto to harness tidal energy using tidal kites in the Atlantic Sea outside the Faroe Islands.
SKF has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Proteus Marine Renewables and GE Vernova to form an alliance to support collaboration on multi-megawatt tidal stream projects.