The Portuguese-Swedish wave energy developer and Norwegian engineering firm will join forces for the COMPACT (COMposite Pressure cAsing for CosT) Project, combining sector leading wave energy technology with low-cost composite design and fabrication processes from the offshore industry.
Financial backing comes from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA Grants ‘Blue Growth Program’ - which is committed to stimulating ‘blue economy’ innovation, creating jobs and driving growth for SMEs.
The COMPACT Project aims to boost the performance and slash costs of CorPower’s next generation WECs (Wave Energy Converters), which will shortly enter the flagship HiWave-5 demonstration phase in northern Portugal.
CorPower Portugal Country Manager Miguel Silva said the latest development marks another significant milestone speeding up the process to commercialization.
“The COMPACT project combines CorPower’s world-class WEC design knowledge with OPS’ vast experience in composite pressure vessels for offshore applications,” he said. “Together we are aiming to develop new technology addressing two common challenges experienced in state-of-the-art wave energy technology – weight and price.
“The process will involve developing, testing, manufacturing and certifying an innovative light-weight pressure casing (cylinder), which is a key component of our WEC system. By making the WEC significantly lighter and using cost-effective materials and production technology, the COMPACT solution aims to increase energy efficiency while decreasing cost of energy.”
OPS Composite Solutions General Manager Reidar Anderssen added, “We are proud to be a partner to CorPower in this industry-advancing project. We strongly believe that the combination of OPS’s extensive experience with composite materials, and CorPower’s advanced technology, will bring this project closer to a successful industrial future.”
CorPower’s Verification process
CorPower’s structured five-stage product verification program is recognized as best practice in the sector. It includes verifying step-by-step that the business case is supported by the physical and economical metrics in each stage from small scale models (since 2012) to full scale array product (by 2024). Dry testing each machine in controlled simulated wave loading on-land to debug and stabilize the machines prior to ocean deployment is a key part of the strategy. It includes a rigorous Certification process with DNV-GL and independent validation of device performance by EMEC and WavEC.
