Corpower

WAVE POWER THAT WE ATHERS

Around the world, the development of wind and solar power is in full swing, even if these still account for a small share of total energy generation. But the contribution from wave power is essentially non-existent so far.

CorPower Ocean intends to change that with its innovative solution that, crucially, can withstand storms and efficiently generate electricity. CEO Patrik Möller gave Hannah Barnett an insight into how the company is making wave power work.

Akey characteristic of wave energy is that it delivers a consistent and predictable generation profile. This means it can be combined with wind and solar to deliver a stable mix of clean energy. Swedish-based CorPower Ocean is utilising this potential. Patrik Möller, CEO, explained that though there are many companies attempting to harness wave power, ‘the

jury’s still out’ on the design, and none have made it work quite yet.

“I believe there will be one or two winning design principles for offshore and nearshore,” Mr Möller said. “Offshore, I think that the point-absorber type we are developing is the leading one. It’s certainly the one you see the most investment and commercial traction in.”

Several leading companies are using point absorbers. What makes CorPower Ocean stand out, is how its design withstands stormy conditions while amplifying the power generation in regular wave conditions.

“Our distinction, compared to the others, is that our devices are designed to be naturally protected in storms,” explained Mr Möller. “Unless we actively control them, they don't react to ocean waves. They sit still and let the waves sweep by. It’s the same function as pitching the blades of a wind turbine. Every commercial wind turbine has this function of placing the blade horizontally when it's too windy, to avoid overloading. And then you pitch it back up when more regular winds are blowing. That has been missing in wave energies, so we've added that function.”

Design with heart

To amplify the generation in regular ocean conditions, CorPower uses an innovative technology called phase control. Mr Möller explained the theory behind how it works.

“It's like pushing a child on a swing,” he said. “If you're pushing a bit too early, or a bit too late, the pushing has little effect. But if you get the swing just right, you get a good momentum. It's the same with wave energy.”

The design of the equipment was inspired by the pumping principle of the human heart. It was CorPower Ocean co-founder, and medical doctor, Stig Lundbäck, who came up with the initial ideas.

“We have a pre-tensioning system that Stig invented, that allows us to extract the same amount of energy going up as going down,” Mr Möller explained. “Even

though the wave does not pull down, it just lifts. There is an analogy with a heart, which has muscles that pump the blood outwards. Then in the return motion, when you refill the chamber with new blood, there is no muscle that pulls the heart backwards; it's just hydraulically stored under pressure. This is also the principle that makes us protected in storms.”

HiWave-5 hits Portugal

With four stages of technology demonstration completed, CorPower Ocean now intends to bring wave energy to a bank able product offering scale-up deployments to make wave energy competitive with wind and solar by 2030.

One decade of product development, and four of research have built towards the flagship HiWave-5 Project. Approaching completion by 2025, its purpose is to demonstrate wave energy products

to the market and get additional major customers to invest in wave farms.

“Making wave energy bankable in our world involves a very structured demonstration and proof points,” Mr Möller reflected.

In August 2022, the company finished the dry test for its electromechanical drivetrain programme in Stockholm, at the world's largest facility for testing wave energy converters on land. The equipment then shipped to Portugal for ocean deployment.

“We are confident that we have stable, robust equipment. We developed a factory in Viana do Castelo in Portugal, where we have developed fully automated additive manufacturing technology to fabricate the composite hulls,” said Mr Möller.

Why Portugal? According to Mr Möller: “There's a big need for consistent power there, for finding solutions to combine with wind and solar to bring stability to the

energy system. It’s a great industrial environment, both in terms of the port facilities and the infrastructure around it, to start our operational base for composite manufacturing and maintenance.

“The talent base is important too. In the same region, we found several big manufacturers doing wind turbine blades. And we managed to hire Miguel Silva, who was previously the plant manager of one of the largest blade factories in Portugal. We've been able to attract very clever engineers into composite manufacturing here. That was important.”

Forged for the future

Aside from HiWave-5, the company offers what it calls ‘CorPack’ clusters of 10 to 20 megawatts per unit for energy companies to build their own wave farms.

“We are turnkey suppliers of wave energy systems,” said Mr Möller. “We deliver the wave energy converter, the mooring system,

the anchoring and electrical connectivity kit

Our main revenue source is one of an OEM: we’re the technology provider selling the equipment . We can also operate and maintain the devices for the customer. And when we do that, we can offer a warranty on the availability and performance.”

Working closely with suppliers has proved crucial in developing technology for this innovative .

“Everything is optimised for the specific load cases of ocean waves, which are quite extreme,” acknowledged Mr Möller. “The equipment needs to survive 100 million cycles of waves going up and down over 20 years. Which means we are tailoring the designs of all parts, whether it's gearboxes, pneumatic cylinders, structural components. The steel mill we work with has adjusted its process to our specific product. We go deep into integration with the supply chain and that takes a lot of effort in the proto typing

Patrik Möller, CEO

stages. It's the key to cost efficiency and reliability in volume.

“The three commercial partners that we are working with in Portugal are EDP, Enel Green Power and Simply Blue Energy. They are very important to us. On the drivetrain , there are many big suppliers that we collaborate with. We're working with ABB, Siemens on electrical systems, SKF and Trelleborg on bearings and seals. Autonational Composite Machinery supplied and designed the winding equipment and we're working on steel with SSAB, and many others.”

The company plans to instal 600MW of wave technology by 2030, initially off the European Atlantic coast, with the intention of expanding to the West Coast of the US and then further across the globe According to the CEO, this would achieve a €70 per MW/h cost, adding a stable component to the clean energy mix that has high value per MWh.

There seems little doubt that CorPower Ocean has established its groundwork and come up with a truly innovative design solution. Mr Möller is sincerely confident in what the company could achieve: “Wave energy is one of the few clean energy solutions that can fully take on the role of stabilising renewable energy so that we can end our dependency on fossil fuels. Ultimately, that is why we are around.”