Offshore staff
VIANA DO CASTELO, Portugal – With a €16-million ($18-million) investment plan, CorPower Ocean is establishing an R&D, manufacturing and service center for wave energy converters (WEC) in Viana do Castelo, northern Portugal.
The company, and port authority APDL - Administração dos Portos do Douro, Leixões and Viana do Castelo - have reached an agreement to develop the ocean energy facility within the commercial port of Viana do Castelo. It will provide space for the fabrication, assembly, and servicing of commercial scale wave energy converters.
The location has been chosen to support the company’s flagship demonstration project HiWave-5, and for the long-term development of supply and service capacity for commercial wave energy farms.
Patrik Möller, CEO of CorPower Ocean, said the company’s goal is to “successfully introduce certified and warrantied WEC products to the market by 2024, making wave energy a bankable technology that can attract mainstream renewable project finance.”
The company said Viana do Castelo was chosen because of a strong competence pool of engineers from adjacent sectors such as offshore wind, composite manufacturing and shipyards, top level universities and industrial infrastructure including ports and grid connection allows effective upscaling of operations in the region.
The company said its work complements the Portuguese Industrial Strategy for Ocean Renewable Energies, designed to create a competitive and innovative industrial export cluster for ocean renewable energy.
07/07/2020
