Sweden Grants EUR 2 Mln for Wave Energy System Inspired by Human Heart

Authorities

The Swedish Energy Agency has granted the company Corpower Ocean AB 2 million EUR to conduct tests of its innovative concept for wave power.

The project is part of a larger collaboration with KIC InnoEnergy, the Spanish energy company Iberdrola and the Portuguese Research Institute WavEC Offshore Renewables.

Corpower will build a new prototype wave power plant and install it in the sea off Scotland. The wave power plant is inspired by the pumping principles of the human heart.

CorPower founder Stig Lundbäck, MD, spent most of his life studying the pumping principles of the human heart. He invented the Dynamic Adaptive Piston Pump Technology (DAPPT) in 1984, and used his comprehensive knowledge to imagine and construct a wave power plant based on similar principles.The wave power plant has in recent years been supplemented with advanced control technology developed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.

“The Swedish Energy Agency’s commitment is crucial to our continued development of commercially viable wave power. Our goal is to test the wave power plants in the sea off the coast of Scotland and show the same performance as in the previous scale trials in Portugal and France. If the project reaches the set goals, it will mark a major step forward for wave power,” said Patrik Möller, CEO of Corpower Ocean AB.

Installing and testing a wave energy plant in the tough environment of the Atlantic is key step in the verification of Corpower’s concept.

“The decision is part of the Swedish Energy Agency’s investment in marine energy. Sweden has strong research and new innovative companies, which opens up opportunities for the Swedish export industry in this area,” said Rémy Kollesar, head of the Research and Innovation Department at the Swedish Energy Agency.