Irish Company may Test Wave Device in Cornish Waters

Irish firm Ocean Energy is hoping to receive a licence to test its first full-scale wave power device at the WaveHub testing centre in Cornwall. Installation of the 1MW machine, called the OE Buoy wave energy converter (WEC), would also be a first for WaveHub, which has yet to see a machine installed in the water at its £30 million facility.

So far, WEC has cost around £11.7 million to develop and recent tests on a quarter-scale version went well. It’s being developed in partnership with Dresser-Rand, a leading oil and gas contractor. If the trial goes ahead, the 650 tonne full-size device will be plugged into WaveHub’s 20MW ‘socket’, which lies in 50m of water, for testing.

Wilding says: This is good news for the marine energy industry! Hopefully Ocean Energy will get the go ahead for this exciting new development.

Source: Recharge