Swedish wave energy developer, CorPower Ocean, have signed up to test their novel resonant wave energy converter at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.
The announcement follows CorPower’s success in Wave Energy Scotland’s (WES) power-take-off (PTO) call that, combined with funding from KIC InnoEnergy and the Swedish Energy Agency, completes a €6.5 million Stage 3 funding round for dry rig testing of a half scale prototype system followed by an ocean deployment at EMEC’s scale test site in Scapa Flow.
The project aims to deliver a highly reliable PTO solution using the innovative WaveSpring control technology offering a step-change improvement in performance and cost to the wave energy sector.
The unique technology will be taken through a program of structured verification guided by best practice support from EMEC, alongside the experience from offshore power generation company Iberdrola Engineering, the University of Edinburgh, and WavEC Offshore Renewables’ expertise in cost and performance modelling.
The project will involve a five-month program of cyclical dry and wet testing of the system in Orkney, culminating in a performance assessment by EMEC.
Prior to arriving in Orkney, the PTO will undergo a five-month dry test period in Stockholm using the same test rig, thereby significantly de-risking the ocean deployment.
This novel approach to PTO development will incorporate the installation of a bespoke dry test rig at EMEC for hardware-in-the-loop testing. The test rig will have the ability to subject wave devices to the full range of wave loads corresponding to the most challenging sea states.
EMEC Managing Director, Neil Kermode, said: “We’ve been working closely with CorPower throughout the WES call, and we’re thrilled to continue with that relationship as they progress through the development and testing of their novel PTO system.
“This is a particularly exciting project for EMEC as it includes the installation of additional infrastructure – a PTO dry test rig – near the Scapa Flow wave test site. This test rig will act as a lasting legacy of Corpower’s test program and WES’ foresight, as it will be available to support the development of other wave and tidal energy converters in the future.”
Patrik Möller, CEO at CorPower said: “We are very excited to be partnering with EMEC, as they bring immense amounts of experience and lessons learned from previous wave projects on Orkney. Having shown game changing performance in previous stages, expectations are high for this Stage 3 program.
“We have the largest respect for the challenges presented by the ocean environment, and we are working closely with EMEC and the local supply chain on Orkney to make this project highly successful.
“We see a great opportunity to establish a long lasting presence in Scotland.”
Tim Hurst, Managing Director at Wave Energy Scotland said: “CorPower’s contribution to the WES power take-off (PTO) program will be invaluable. The design is the most advanced of the PTO projects, and testing with EMEC will afford us the opportunity to follow the test progress closely.
“The HiDrive PTO technology represents an exciting step forward in developing a successful wave energy technology and I’m looking forward to seeing the results.”