Seven project teams will share a budget of €2.4 million to further develop their wave energy device concepts in the first half of 2022 after being named the successful tenderers in the EuropeWave project’s innovative Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) process.

The teams – who were selected by a panel of independent experts following a strong response to the initial call for tenders – have been named as:

Waveram Ltd: The Waveram

Mocean Energy Ltd: Blue Horizon 250

IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture SAU: MARMOK Atlantic

CETO Wave Energy Ireland Ltd: ACHIEVE

Bombora Wave Power Europe Ltd: emWave

Arrecife Energy Systems SL: Trimaran

AMOG Consulting Limited: Sea-Saw WEC

The EuropeWave project, a five-year collaborative R&D funding programme, is a partnership between Wave Energy Scotland (WES) and the Basque Energy Agency (EVE). Match-funded by the European Commission via its Horizon2020 programme, this transnational collaboration will channel almost €20 million to procure the most promising wave energy technology solutions from developers across Europe and beyond.

Following the completion of the first stage, the five most promising technologies will then be selected to progress to a second phase, where project teams will undertake more extensive design, modelling and testing. The final phase of EuropeWave will select three devices for testing in real sea conditions off the coasts of the Basque Country and Scotland in 2025.

This ‘Pre-Commercial Procurement’ approach combines a competitive selection process with rigorous use of technical and economic performance indicators. It is hoped it will accelerate wave energy’s scale-up and rapidly reduce costs.