Wave power breakthrough granted €2m for tests
HiWave, an innovation in wave power, has been granted additional funding for tests that are set to mark an unprecedented development for wave power globally.
The wave-power breakthrough developed by CorPower Ocean and nurtured by KIC InnoEnergy’s highway programme, secured in excess of €2m in investment from the Swedish Energy Agency. The funds will be used to run tests in the torrent Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Scotland.
HiWave has demonstrated unprecedented efficiency rates in wave energy absorption, delivering five times higher energy density compared with previously developed technology, and at one-third of the cost. This new investment is in addition to €6m already invested by KIC InnoEnergy and the Swedish Energy Agency.
Providing his thoughts, Patrik Möller, chief executive of CorPower Ocean, said: “CorPower has grown from a one person company with a small scale prototype to a 12 person team with a proven device that can tap into the under-utilised power of the ocean.
“Our next goal is to test the prototype in the sea off the coast of Scotland, and to show the same good performance as in the previous scale trials conducted in Portugal and France. If the project reaches these set goals, it will mark a major step forward for wave power globally.”
KIC InnoEnergy has invested a total of €3m in the breakthrough since its inception in 2009. The company has also provided support by connecting CorPower with Iberdrola Engineering and WavEC for collaboration, developing its supply chain, putting forward partnerships with established industry-leading drive train and cylinder manufacturers, and helping to structure the company’s product verification methodology.
Adding his thoughts, Kenneth Johansson, chief executive of KIC InnoEnergy Sweden, said he was “very excited that the support and funding” the KIC had placed in HiWave had “resulted in a disruptive potential breakthrough within the wave power industry, after years of struggle to prove its financial viability”.
