Bombora Wave Power has been selected by Enzen to supply a grid connected wave farm to be located in the Atlantic Ocean on the north side of Lanzarote, the fourth largest of the Spanish Canary Islands, off the coast of northern Africa.
Enzen has identified that Lanzarote has a large and consistent wave energy resource along its northern coastline and Bombora’s fully submerged mWave wave energy converters will be installed to deliver clean renewable energy.
Enzen, as a part of the strategic collaboration agreement with the governing body of Lanzarote, Cabildo de Lanzarote, are partnering with Bombora for this commercial development, the company noted.
Harish Gopal , CEO Enzen Spain said, “Our commitment to the Cabildo de Lanzarote, is to lead their transition of energy generation to renewable sources, developing energy solutions with low or zero impact on the physical environment to ensure conservation of land on the island. We are delighted that as part of that programme we have selected Bombora as one of our key partners to supply a technology solution to enable us to generate energy with no visual pollution.”
The first phase of the project will see up to 4 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity through the deployment of an array of 1.5MW mWaves. The power generated by the submerged wave farm will supplement the island’s existing electricity supply which is currently produced largely by a diesel-fuelled power station.
The project will follow the installation of a 1.5MW mWave in the Marine Energy Testing Area off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. Due for completion in the summer of 2020, this demonstration project will run concurrently with the consenting process for the Lanzarote wave farm.
Bombora’s managing director Sam Leighton added: “This grid connected wave farm project is a very exciting opportunity for both Bombora and the people of Lanzarote and will place Lanzarote at the global forefront of wave energy commercialization. Enzen and Bombora are now engaging with the local supply chain in Lanzarote to deliver the project with Bombora providing specialist engineering support from our European headquarters in Wales.”