Australian wave energy tech firm Carnegie Clean Energy has been selected to receive a contract under the EuropeWave Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) program via its subsidiary CETO Wave Energy Ireland Limited.
EuropeWave PCP is a competitive stage-gate program designed to address a specific challenge: "To advance promising wave energy converter systems to a point from which they can be developed to commercial exploitation through other national/regional programs and/or private investment."
CETO Wave Energy Ireland was selected alongside six other companies to deliver Phase 1 of the program after meeting rigorous selection criteria including the performance, survivability, availability, and affordability characteristics of the proposed systems, Carnegie said Wednesday.
With almost €20 million in funding for the 3 phases of the program, which runs from 2022 to 2026, the EuropeWave PCP is a collaboration between Wave Energy Scotland (WES), a subsidiary of the Scottish Government’s Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Basque Energy Agency (EVE).
Subject to signing contracts, CETO Wave Energy Ireland will be paid €291,000 (A$463,000) to deliver required Phase 1 activities including undertaking tank testing and delivering a CETO concept design for deployment at the open-water facilities of the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) in the Basque Country and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Scotland in Phase 3. Phase 1 will start on January 3, 2022, and run for 7 months.
Carnegie's CETO is a fully submerged, point absorber-type wave energy technology. A submerged buoy sits a few meters below the surface of the ocean and moves with the ocean’s waves. This orbital motion drives a power take-off (PTO) system that converts this motion into electricity.
"Europe and the UK are driving forces behind the adoption of wave energy with several investments and support mechanisms underway. EuropeWave PCP’s objective is to accelerate the development of cost-effective wave energy converter systems that can survive in the harsh ocean environment, and ultimately EuropeWave PCP will contract three of the Phase 1 contractors to deploy their prototypes at BiMEP or EMEC in Phase 3," Carnegie said.
Carnegie’s CEO, Mr Jonathan Fiévez, commented:“Programmes like this show the urgency and the opportunity to drive wave energy and accelerate global efforts towards decarbonisation. Wave energy is beginning to gain traction and will complement existing renewables such as wind and solar. Harnessing the power of our vast oceans is a vital step in our transition to the use of sustainable clean energy, and to achieve net zero emissions as soon as possible.”
The European Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) has set targets for ocean energy technologies to reduce its levelised cost of energy (LCOE) over the next fifteen years to at least 20 c€/kWh (2025), 15 c€/kWh (2030) and 10 c€/kWh (2035). By 2050 ocean energy will be able to provide 10% of Europe’s current electricity needs and 400,000 jobs, Carnegie said.
CETO Wave Energy Ireland will deliver Phase 1 of the PCP with the support of a team including its consortium partner SAITEC Offshore Technologies and subcontractors Yavin Four Consultants, DNV UK Ltd, IHCantabria, and Julia F. Chozas Consulting Engineer.
Carnegie’s new advanced controllers, already demonstrated via simulations, will be validated in the tank tasking campaign at the Cantabria Coastal and Ocean Basin (CCOB) in Spain during Phase 1, the company said. Ultimately, if successful in subsequent phases, the innovations delivered in the Digital Development Pathway and EuropeWave PCP Phases 1 and 2 would be demonstrated and validated via a CETO prototype deployment at EMEC or BiMEP in Phase 3, the company said.
Following the conclusion of Phase 1, another rigorous selection process will be conducted, with five companies out of the seven selected for Phase 2, and subsequently, three companies selected for the third and final phase.
"Each company involved will retain ownership of the intellectual property, the results and any physical models, prototypes or other test pieces produced during the PCP. The final contract is expected to be signed in December 2021, and Carnegie will keep shareholders informed with its progress throughout 2022," Carnegie said.
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