Danish company Wavepiston has over the last two weeks conducted upgrades on its wave energy prototype operating in the North Sea, and signed another project that will see its technology demonstrated in combination with desalination scheme in the Mediterranean.
The prototype version of Wavepiston device at the DanWEC test site at Hanstholm has been refurbished with larger plates mounted on the device’s energy collectors, the company informed.
Testing on the device, comprised of a steel wire stretched between two anchored buoys, will continue over first half 2019, Wavepiston confirmed.
The device works when waves roll along the wire moving the plates back and forth. The moving plates pump seawater into pipe which leads it to onshore turbine station which converts pressurized water to electricity.
The patent approval, issued to Wavepiston by Danish Patent Authorities in 2008, covers the use of three or more vertical plates moving along a structure covering more than half a wavelength.
It also cowers multiple embodiments of the Wavepiston concept, including central power generation, de-central power generation, and using linear generators as well as the possibility for desalination of seawater .
Sardinia wave energy-desalination demonstration
Wavepiston has in the beginning of December 2018 singed a contract for a €4.9 million project planned for the Italian island of Sardinia, the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.
The €3 million grant, awarded by the European Union to an international consortium of companies, will be used to develop and install a system that will both produce clean energy and fresh water from sea , according to Wavepiston.
“The purpose is to install a system for both electricity generation and desalination on a small tourist island,” said Michael Henriksen , CEO of Wavepiston.
No further details about the project have been released, aside from other members of the project consortium, which in addition to Wavepiston , includes Vryhof , Fiellberg , and Energia Mediterranea .