Onshore marine energy developer Eco Wave Power has signed an agreement with APDL (A Administração dos Portos do Douro, Leixões e Viana do Castelo) for the use of an area suitable for the development of wave power project in four areas up to a capacity of 20MW.
Under the official Concession Agreement APDL will provide Eco Wave Power with the concession for its’ breakwaters for a period of 25 to 30 years, while Eco Wave Power will be responsible for securing all the licences, constructing and commissioning the power plant/s and selling the electricity to be generated with an approved production quota, to be determined for each site.
The planned project would be constructed and commissioned in two stages. The first stage would involve the development of a project up to 5MW capacity. In the second stage, Eco Wave Power will construct, operate and maintain the remaining capacity of the plant (15 to 19 additional MW). APDL will have a right of first refusal (ROFR) to invest partially or fully in both stages of the project.
“When it comes to wave energy, the government of Portugal estimated that there is a potential to install 3-4GW of wave power capacity in Portugal alone,” said Inna Braverman, CEO of Eco Wave Power. “We are very excited about the collaboration with APDL and would like to thank them for being true wave energy pioneers.”
This agreement is in line with the plan previously adopted by the Government of Portugal for ocean energy buildout and its’ industrial strategy to accelerate the development of Portugal’s ocean renewable energy sector.
The major strategic objective is the creation of a competitive and innovative industrial export cluster for ocean renewable energies; Ocean renewable energies have the potential to supply 25% of Portugal’s annual power consumption, while the sector could generate €254 million in investment, €280 million in gross value added, €119 million in trade and 1,500 new jobs, the strategy states.
The strategy also contributes to the realization of Port Tech Clusters which suggests the development of ocean renewable energies could be accelerated by creating synergies with the naval sector which could open access for the industry to the demonstration sites in real operating environments near ports.
