Finnish utilities company Fortum has signed an agreement to secure a berth at Wave Hub, the offshore renewable energy test facility in Cornwall.
The leasing agreement gives Fortum the opportunity to deploy an array of advanced full scale wave power converters in real sea conditions at one of Wave Hub’s four berths.
“This is as much ‘plug and play’ as it gets when it comes to wave power generation development. The site already has everything we need to start testing,” says Fortum’s Chief Technology Officer Heli Antila , PhD . “From the very beginning, Wave Hub has been very supportive of our project development, which is important as this is a testing environment.”
“One wave power solution that we are currently evaluating to be deployed at the site is the ‘Penguin’, developed by Finnish wave power company Wello,” says Antila . “This technique comprises vessels that float on the water and capture kinetic energy, which is then turned into electrical power, with minimal anchoring attached to the bottom.”
[mappress]
Press release, February 24, 2014; Image: Wello