CorPower Ocean’s composite manufacturing facility in Portugal has completed the first quarter-scale composite hull fabrication for a wave energy device.
The stage is being set in northern Portugal for CorPower Ocean’s flagship HiWave-5 project, with the verification of the first quarter-scale composite hull fabrication in Viana do Castelo facility.
The composite manufacturing facility in Viana do Castelo is part of a broader plan to establish a world-class R&D, manufacturing and service centre for wave energy converters.
The €16 million investment plan will underpin long-term development of supply and service capacity for commercial wave energy farms, according to CorPower Ocean.
It follows an agreement signed with port authority APDL – Administração dos Portos do Douro, Leixões and Viana do Castelo – in summer 2020.
The northern Iberian region boasts a wealth of engineering expertise from adjacent sectors including offshore wind, composite manufacturing and shipyards.
It is further supported by top-level universities and industrial infrastructure such as ports and active grid connections allowing effective upscaling of operations.
The recent investment also strongly complements the Portuguese Industrial Strategy for Ocean Renewable Energies, designed to create a competitive and innovative industrial export cluster for ocean renewable energy.
CorPower’s goal is to successfully introduce certified and warrantied wave energy converters to the market by 2024, making wave energy a bankable technology that can attract mainstream renewable project finance.
The HiWave-5 project will see the deployment of the company’s commercial scale C4 device. Measuring 9 metres in diameter, and weighing 60 tonnes, the device will be rated at 300kW.
The ocean installation is planned later in 2021 at the Aguçadoura site in Portugal.
This will be followed by three additional CorPower C5 machines in 2023 to form a pilot array and secure type certification, according to CorPower Ocean.