Solar Energy. Wind Energy. Now, Wave Energy. Reminds me of Captain Planet.
A Finnish company, AW-Energy, recently signed a $4.4 million (€3 million) contract with the European Union (EU) to implement WaveRoller (wave energy) technology in Portuguese waters. This looks interesting. The location for the project is near a town deemed to be “capital of the waves.”
The simple (sort of) goal of this project is to “manufacture and deploy the first grid-connected WaveRoller unit in the Portuguese waters.”
Where better to implement this wave energy technology than near a town named “Capital of the Waves” –Peniche, Portugal?
A consortium of companies from a few European countries (Belgium, Germany and Portugal) are involved in the project, but it is being led by AW-Energy. Other companies include industrial giants Bosch-Rexroth and ABB, renewable energy operator Eneolica, and the Wave Energy Center.
CEO of AW-Energy, John Liljelund, says: “The experience of our dream team consortium is a significant asset to the project, and we are thrilled about this real pan-European co-operation. AW-Energy has been working hard the last three years with two sea installed prototypes, tank testing and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulations. Now we have the site, grid connection permission, installation license and the technology ready for the demonstration phase.”
According to Green Energy News, “Ocean energy technology represents the largest untapped business potential within the renewables sector.” This project implements a “groundbreaking” new product and hopefully will open the way for more wave energy installations in the future.
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Image Credit 1: F H Mira via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 2: F H Mira via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 3: F H Mira via flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image Credit 4: jo:wra via flickr under a Creative Commons license
About Zachary Shahan
