The deal between the two companies was signed in December. The goal is for marine installation of the first 42 wave power buoys and related equipment during autumn and winter of 2012. Phase-two installations are planned to be take place after a research period of about one year.
Through the first half of this year, Seabased will start serial production of buoys, generators, substations and converters at a factory to be established in the Lysekil municipality in Sweden.
After completion in 2014-2015, the wave power park will be the world’s largest, full-scale demonstration project of its kind. It will consist of 420 buoys, with a total output of about 10 MW, installed in a half a square kilometre area.
The total budget for the project is about €25 million.
”Wave power offers globally significant potential for next-generation energy production,” said Risto Andsten, Fortum’s Vice President, Renewable Energy.
“Fortum has got off to an early start in the development of the technology for commercial use. We have big expectations for the demonstration project in Sweden,” Andsten said.
The technology for the wave power park is based on Uppsala University’s wave power research in which Fortum has participated since 2007. The Swedish Energy Agency has decided to grant investment support for the project.
Fortum is also participating in the Finnish Waveroller development project, in which wave energy is converted into electricity close to the shore. The project’s goal is to build a 300-kW demonstration plant during 2012 in Peniche, Portugal, to produce electricity for the grid. Fortum and the French naval defence and energy company, DCNS, are developing wave power in France. The companies are launching a joint feasibility study for a wave power demonstration project.
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