Sea Power plans to retrieve its scaled wave energy device from the Galway Bay marine renewables test site this week.
Having concluded the winter survivability testing program of its 1:5 scale Seapower Platform, an Irish-based company Sea Power plans to remove the device from the testing site by March 19, 2017, according to the Marine Institute of Ireland.
Seapower Platform, an attenuator wave energy converter, has been on site since October 2016 for the first phase of testing activities .
Peter Heffernan , Marine Institute’s CEO, said: “Sea Power is a great example of an indigenous Irish company developing novel technology to harness the power of the ocean. Having brought their device through various small scale prototypes, it is exciting to see this new technology successfully testing over the winter months in the sea at quarter scale.”
The decommissioning plan for the ending of current test site activity has been agreed with the licensing authority, and no further testing will be completed until a new lease is authorized, the Marine Institute said.
The Galway Bay Marine and Renewable Energy Test site has been in operation since 2006 and is currently licensed to operate until March 19, 2017.
The Marine Institute of Ireland applied in April 2016 for a new foreshore lease to allow testing of a wider range of marine renewable energy devices. However, no decision on this application has been received from the licensing authority to date, the Marine Institute of Ireland informed.