Carnegie Clean Energy moves forward with EuropeWave project

July 11, 2023, by Amir Garanovic

Carnegie Clean Energy, through its wholly owned subsidiary CETO Wave Energy Ireland (CWEI), has applied to the tender for the third phase of EuropeWave project, requesting approximately €3.75 million to deliver a CETO wave energy prototype at a European test site.

CWEI and HPE staff at the Phase 3 tank testing in Cantabria, Spain (Courtesy of Carnegie Clean Energy)

The EuropeWave PCP Program is an innovative and competitive stage-gate program designed to advance promising wave energy converter systems and targeted to prove technical and commercial viability for large scale deployment for future national/regional development programs and/or private investment.

CWEI recently submitted Phase 2 deliverables under its contract covering front-end engineering design (FEED), testing, certification and commercialization activities undertaken during Phase 2 of the project.

This included deliverables from the tank testing campaign in which Carnegie’s reinforcement learning controller was successfully demonstrated in collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a first for the wave energy industry.

Following EuropeWave PCP Program deliverable review, CWEI received payments of over €500,000 from EuropeWave for these activities.

Following progression through Phase 1 and 2 of the EuropeWave PCP Program, which have advanced the CETO prototype design through a staged and independently reviewed development process, CWEI has recently also submitted its tender for consideration for a EuropeWave Phase 3 contract.

The EuropeWave Buyers Group will select up to three of the five Phase 2 EuropeWave contractors to receive Phase 3 contracts to deploy their wave energy prototype at the open-water facilities of the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) in the Basque Country or the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Scotland.

Carnegie’s CEO, Jonathan Fiévez, said: “The ACHIEVE project team worked diligently and collaboratively with our EuropeWave partners to deliver a significant body of design and testing work under the EuropeWave Phase 2 program. We were particularly excited to see the success of the reinforcement learning controller in the wave tank testing campaign, a world first and an outcome enabled through our close collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise over recent years.

“The work delivered by the team in Phase 2 demonstrates that CETO can become a valuable and reliable part of renewable energy portfolios in Europe and beyond.

“The Phase 3 tender submitted outlines our plans to use the CETO advancements achieved in Phases 1 and 2 to deliver a CETO prototype at the BiMEP or EMEC test site to further validate the commercial potential of the technology. The Phase 3 CETO prototype will undergo final design and testing activities before being fabricated in Europe and then operated at the test site for at least a year.

“This achievement is expected to be a critical turning point for the CETO technology and would help unlock exciting CETO project opportunities with strategic partners.”

EuropeWave is expected to announce Phase 3 awards in August 2023 with the Phase 3 program activities starting in September 2023 and running through to May 2026.