The Corpower C4 wave power plant has been certified by the Norwegian classification society DNV. According to the manufacturer, Corpower Ocean, it is the first DNV prototype certificate for a wave energy converter.
The certificate confirms that Corpower's technology meets DNV's requirements for structural strength, reliability, and safety, Corpower Ocean announced. The certification process began in the design phase and took seven years. DNV accompanied the process from concept development, design, manufacturing, and assembly to dry tests and then operation.
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This is an important step, said Patrik Möller, CEO and one of the founders of Corpower Ocean. With the certification, wave energy is no longer just a promising technology but a proven and financeable one. This opens up new opportunities for project financing, insurance, and investments in commercial deployment.
The Corpower C4 wave power plant looks like a normal buoy. It consists of a 19-meter floating body with a diameter of 9 meters and a weight of around 11 tons. The system is anchored to the seabed. A mechanism inside the buoy converts the buoy's up-and-down movements in the waves into a rotational motion. This, in turn, drives a generator that produces electricity.
Survived 18.5-meter-high waves
Corpower Ocean has successfully tested the system for several years off the coast of Portugal. It has also proven itself in extreme situations with 18.5-meter-high waves during a storm in November 2023.
A mechanism called Wavespring ensures that such high waves do not damage the mechanics. On calm days, however, Wavespring amplifies the movement so that one-meter-high waves have the effect of three-meter-high waves.
A prototype of the Corpower C4 has been in operation off the coast of Portugal since 2023 and has been feeding electricity into the country's grid ever since. Corpower Ocean plans to build the first two industrial-scale wave energy farms off Portugal and Scotland. They are scheduled to begin operation between 2027 and 2029.
The advantage of such a wave power plant is that, unlike solar or wind farms, it reliably generates electricity practically around the clock.
(wpl)
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This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.