Sea Power, an Ireland-based wave energy developer, has towed out its wave energy device from Foynes Harbour into the Galway Bay, Ireland.
The towing operation was conducted by Atlantic Towage last week, following the successful mooring installation at the SmartBay site, Sea Power informed.
“Local conditions were rough around loop head and through the Aran Islands but the WEC handled them easily and the tow out went extremely well, traveling at an average speed of 4 knots. This demonstrated that the Seapower Platform can be easily towed out to any site,” Sea Power said.
The 1:4 scale Seapower device is an attenuator type of wave energy converter which operates parallel to the wave direction, capturing energy from the relative motion of the two arms in the device as the wave passes them.
The project, which received financial backing from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), will see the deployment of the 1:4 device the Galway Bay Marine and Renewable Energy Test Site for testing purposes.