Wave-powered breakwater hits water offshore Norway

The multi-purpose Powerpier solution, designed to offer protection from waves while exploiting them to produce clean power, has been installed offshore the Norwegian town of Ålesund.

The Powerpier project, led by Norwegian company Marina Solutions with partners Havkraft and Ulstein Betong Marine, has been installed on site late last week, the partners informed.

The test pier, dubbed Ulsteinflåten, has been equipped with two Havkraft Wave Energy Converter (H-WEC) units boasting six impulse turbines with Bosch permanent magnet generators.

The project received the approval for deployment from the Norwegian authorities late in 2020.

Geir Arne Solheim, CEO of Havkraft, a technology company that supplied wave energy converters for the project, said: “The Havkraft team is pleased with the progress in the development of different concepts using the H-WEC technology, such as this Powerpier-concept. We are ready to get in contact with clients and partners world-wide where our solution can contribute to green electrification. If you got the waves, you got the power“.

The testing will take place for a few months, before the Powerpier product is offered to a wider market, Solheim said for Offshore Energy in an exclusive interview published in February.

The Powerpier can be further expanded to the total of 20 H-WECs installed on a 50-metre long breakwater, Solheim noted.

“Eventually we will offer solutions for all types of offshore operations, from coastal-near fish-farming, piers and marinas, to offshore fish-farming, oil and gas platforms and hydrogen-production. Short-travelled energy from the ocean that can replace emissions from important operations is the way of the future”, Solheim said earlier.