A&P Falmouth has won the contract to refit Wello Oy’s Penguin wave energy device ahead of its Wave Hub deployment later this year.
A&P Falmouth is to conduct maintenance operations on Finnish wave energy developer’s Penguin wave energy device, before the scheduled summer deployment at Wave Hub test site, A&P informed.
Wello Oy’s Penguin device arrived to Falmouth on January 19 this year, following an 8 day tow from Scotland, where it has been on trials since 2013.
Paul Westo n, A&P’s Renewable Energy Technical Manager, said: “Renewables devices are becoming larger and deeper which in turn means they require deeper harbours, deeper berths and more wharf space in order to deploy them and provide operations and maintenance support.
“The Penguin is case in point and this project clearly showcases the facilities, skills and commitment we have here at A&P Falmouth for renewable energy. This is now our third wave energy convertor at Falmouth including Fred Olsen’s Lifesaver and Seatricity’s Oceanus II.”
The Penguin will be installed as a part of the €24.5 million CEFOW project , for which the European Commission’s research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 granted €17 million.
“We are excited to start working with A&P Falmouth to prepare the device for a long-term deployment at Wave Hub. I am confident that with help of the other CEFOW partners and local supply chain we will deploy on schedule and start generating power,” Aki Luukkainen , CEO of Wello Oy, added.
Wello’s Penguin converts the waves to electricity with continuous rotational movement.
In a floating element, motion energy is directly captured by a generator, resulting in conversion from movement to electricity, thus avoiding the need for hydraulics.