French energy giant TotalEnergies has collaborated with Swedish CorPower Ocean to generate electricity from wave energy. The trials carried out in the Aguçadoura region of Portugal have come to an end.Nowadays, as renewable energy becomes increasingly widespread, natural resources such as wind, sun and rivers are used. However, the wave energy in the seas, which has great potential, cannot yet be utilized. Although there are many experimental studies to produce electricity from waves, none of them have been put into commercial use. But the situation is about to change.
Founded in 2012, the Swedish company CorPower Ocean has been working on wave energy for a long time. The technology developed by the company has gone through a five-stage process and is approaching commercial use.
The design of CorPower Ocean was developed in 2009 by Stig Lundbäck, a doctor with an engineering mind who holds many patents. It was implemented as a concept for the first time 3 years later.
How does the system work?
The design is actually quite simple. The pontoon-shaped device, connected to the sea bottom by an axle, moves up and down with the movement of the wave. This movement is converted into rotational movement by the gears inside the pontoon. Electricity is produced by operating the generator with the rotation movement. The device, which went through many stages for 10 years, entered the fourth stage in August and was tested in Portugal. The device, which was exposed to many storms and 18-meter high waves off the coast of Portugal, successfully passed the tests.
In the fifth phase, 3 additional devices will be connected to form CorPack, which the company says is a turnkey solution for generating energy from ocean waves.
Very close to commercial use
The Corpack system will be offered as a commercial and scalable complete solution consisting of attachment points, fixing systems, cables and an electrical collection center to transmit electricity. In this collaboration, TotalEnergies will transfer its expertise in offshore installation, maintenance and operations in exchange for access to data from the pilot program.
“We see this as just the beginning of our journey with TotalEnergies and are excited about the potential of wave energy and the role it can play in the transition to net zero,” said Kevin Rebenius, Chief Commercial Officer at CorPower Ocean. He speaks the words.
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