MPS hires Principia for floating wind and wave engineering job

Marine Power Systems (MPS) has appointed Principia as lead contractor on detailed design and engineering of the floating platform that will support both wind and wave energy generating devices.

Principia, part of the Artelia Group, has a dedicated offshore engineering team who has been working on offshore projects for over 40 years.

The company brings experience in the structural and mechanical design of marine renewable technologies, and deep understanding of coupled aerodynamic and hydrodynamic response of those systems.

Bourbon Subsea Services will take a supporting role for the project, providing its expertise in subsea engineering and project delivery – including procurement, fabrication and offshore installation, according to MPS.

Principia and Bourbon will assist MPS with the detailed design of their floating platform and with the procurement, manufacture, assembly, installation and operation of the floating platform at the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) site in northern Spain.

Graham Foster, CTO at MPS, said: “We are really looking forward to working with the first-class team at Principia and Bourbon to deliver what will be a huge milestone for MPS and our mission to unlock the power of oceans”.

Benoit Chassé, offshore wind business development manager at Principia, added: “Principia is very proud to be awarded this integrated detailed design and Owner’s Engineer scope for this megawatt-scale floating wind and wave device. This success reflects the unique positioning of Principia to deliver multidiscipline and independent engineering services in this fast-evolving floating wind market”.

To remind, MPS recently selected Quoceant to work on the detailed design of its wave energy converter technology and support with the procurement, manufacture, assembly, installation and operation of the converter at BiMEP.

Following the success of the recent equity funding round, where MPS raised over £4.5 million and doubled their original target, the business is moving rapidly towards market readiness.

The company has developed a flexible floating platform technology that can be configured to harness wind and wave energy either as a combined solution or on their own in deep water.

Whilst the market for their technology is utility-scale, grid connected farms, additional markets include oil and gas platform electrification and the growing hydrogen economy.