Irish-led wave energy project gets go-ahead from the EU

The new project harnessing renewable wave energy will use a floating wave energy device developed by Irish company OceanEnergy.

A multinational project looking to harness wave energy has received approval from the European Union (EU) to proceed to the next stage.

The €19.6m Wave Energy Demonstration at Utility Scale to Enable Arrays (WEDUSEA) project was co-funded by the EU Horizon Europe Programme, Innovate UK and industry partners.

Wave energy is a reliable and renewable energy source. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) puts its potential annual global production at 29,500TWh (terawatt hours), which is almost 10 times Europe’s estimated annual electricity consumption of around 3,000TWh. Waves are always in motion, which can be tapped into to generate energy.

Ocean Energy Europe calls this “the world’s largest untapped source of energy”. Speaking to SiliconRepublic.com at the start of this year, Dr Andrei Ermakov from Maynooth University said that Ireland has “one of the best wave resources on the planet”. He is also working in the wave energy sector to make it cost-effective and maximise the energy produced.

Project WEDUSEA is coordinated by Cork-based OceanEnergy, a company that specialises in developing wave energy technology.

The project is being carried out by 14 organisations from Ireland, the UK, France, Germany and Spain. Alongside OceanEnergy, four other Irish organisations are involved in the collaboration; University College Cork, Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions, Exceedence and Wood.

What is WEDUSEA?

WEDUSEA will use the OE35, which has been described as the world’s largest capacity floating wave energy device. The device was developed by OceanEnergy and is set to be launched next year. Floating on the ocean’s surface, the device incorporates a trapped air volume, with the lower part open to the sea. Wave pressures at the submerged opening cause the water to oscillate and drive the trapped air through a turbine to generate electricity.

The project, now ready to proceed, will be enacted in phases.

The first phase is the initial design and build of a device suited to the ocean conditions at the European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC) wave energy test site.

The project will take the OE35 and trial it at the EMEC test site in Atlantic wave conditions to assess its performance for two years as part of its second phase, transporting the generated energy to the UK grid.

Prof Tony Lewis, chief technical officer at OceanEnergy, says: “Wave energy is the world’s most valuable renewable resource with around 30,000TWh of potential annual production waiting to be harnessed. However, this potential has yet to be fully realised.

“We predict that the natural energy of the world’s oceans will one day supply much of the grid.”

Dr Matthijs Soede, a senior policy officer at the European Commission, said, “WEDUSEA is set to be a major catalyst for the wave energy industry, unlocking the full potential of this exciting renewable technology.”

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