Header image with EuropeWave logo

ACHIEVE PROGRAMME

CETO wave energy converter is set to make its mark in Bilbao, Spain

Carnegie Clean Energy alongside its subsidiaries, will construct and operate the CETO wave energy converter at the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP), an offshore testing site in Bilbao in 2025. The deployment in Bilbao marks a pivotal step in demonstrating the technical and commercial viability of CETO technology for large-scale implementation.

The CETO deployment at BiMEP has been funded by various contributions; The EuropeWave PCP Programme, focused on accelerating wave energy development across Europe, was the initial catalyst for the deployment, providing €3.75m for Phase 3 of the EuropeWave Programme. Additionally, Spain’s RENMARINAS DEMOS Program, dedicated to advancing marine renewables, is contributing €1.2m to specifically enhance the CETO deployment within Spanish waters. The Basque Energy Agency’s ACHIEVE+ initiative is providing €2.1m, with an emphasis on supporting local involvement and driving key technological advancements. Specific details on the funding can be found below.

CETO Technology

Named after a Greek sea goddess, CETO offers the potential to revolutionise renewable power production globally. CETO harnesses the enormous untapped energy present in our ocean’s waves and converts it into grid-ready electricity. CETO is a unique, fully submerged, point absorber type wave energy technology. A submerged buoy sits a few metres below the surface of the ocean and moves with the ocean’s waves. This orbital motion drives a power take-off (PTO) system that converts this motion into electricity.

DEPLOYMENT SITE:


BiMEP (Biscay Marine Energy Platform) is a state-of-the-art facility situated in the Bay of Biscay, off the coast of northern Spain. It serves as a dedicated testing ground specifically tailored for wave energy installations. Researchers, developers, and industry stakeholders benefit from the opportunity to trial and refine wave energy devices in authentic marine conditions. Through collaboration with academic institutions, governmental bodies, and private enterprises, BiMEP plays a crucial role in advancing wave energy technology and expediting its integration into the renewable energy sector.


ACHIEVE – EuropeWave PCP Programme

Carnegie, via its wholly owned subsidiary, CETO Wave Energy Ireland Limited, has been selected as 1 of 3 contractors to deliver Phase 3 of the €20M EuropeWave Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) Programme, a competitive programme to advance wave energy technologies in Europe.

  • Project Partners: CETO Wave Energy Ireland Limited, SAITEC Offshore Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lloyd’s Register EMEA, Hutchinson, Quoceant, VGA, Advanced Composite Structures Australia (ACSA) and Julia F. Chozas Consulting Engineer.
  • Project Value: €3.75M
  • Duration: September 2023 – May 2026

The Award – valued at €3.75M ($6.3M AUD) will fund a scaled CETO prototype of the CETO wave energy converter in the open ocean. CETO Wave Energy Ireland was awarded the highest score in this competitive process, highlighting the success of the expert team. CWEI was subsequently rewarded with priority selection of test site, with the team electing BiMEP (Biscay Marine Energy Platform) located in the Basque Country, Spain, as the dedicated site for deployment.

This award follows the competitive selection and successful performance of CETO in both phases 1 and 2 of the programme, for which Carnegie was awarded €891k (A$1.48M) to deliver a CETO tank testing campaign and a CETO concept design for sites in Scotland and the Basque Country. The EuropeWave PCP is a collaboration between Wave Energy Scotland (WES), a subsidiary of the Scottish Government’s Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Basque Energy Agency (EVE).

EuropeWave PCP’s objective is to accelerate the development of cost-effective wave energy converter systems that can survive in the harsh ocean environment, this award represents the hard work and collaboration of the consortium in advancing the CETO technology to a level of pre-commercialisation.

CETO Wave Energy Ireland will deliver Phase 3 of the EuropeWave PCP with the support of an impressive team including its consortium partner SAITEC Offshore Technologies and subcontractors Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lloyd’s Register EMEA, Hutchinson, Quoceant, VGA, Advanced Composite Structures Australia (ACSA) and Julia F. Chozas Consulting Engineer.

Phase 3 activities are supported by the involvement of 2 new key partners:

  • Lloyd’s Register EMEA, who will provide technical verification processes and support design and best practices for the scaled deployment of the CETO device.
  • Advanced Composite Structures Australia (ACSA) who will continue to support Carnegie with advancements in Mooring Tensioner technologies.

Each company involved will retain ownership of the intellectual property, the results and any physical models, prototypes or other test pieces produced during the PCP.

The EuropeWave project has received funding
from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 883751.

AGUAMARINA

Carnegie Technologies Spain (CTS) has been selected to receive a €1,171,800 grant as part of Spain’s first competitive call of the RENMARINAS DEMOS Program, which funds marine renewable energy projects in Spain. aligning with the successful award of the EuropeWave PCP Programme, the grant funding supports the Company’s AGUAMARINA Project (Avances en la Generación Undimotriz Adaptada al entorno Marino). This project will extend and enhance the deployment of CETO in Spain in association with the previously announced EuropeWave ACHIEVE Project. This additional funding will enable the Company to deliver an improved CETO deployment at the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP), engage with additional stakeholders and enable the project to meet enhanced technical and commercial objectives aligned with the CETO commercialisation pathway.

These funds from AGUAMARINA enhance and extend the activities associated with the CETO deployment at BiMEP and supports collaboration with the site operators, BiMEP. This includes:

  1. Extended CETO Operational Period: ACHIEVE funds the first year of operations and AGUAMARINA will fund a second year of operations.
  2. Enhanced Wave Prediction Capabilities: The advanced control capability of CETO is enabled by a wave predictor able to forecast the waves impacting the device with a high accuracy at a short prediction horizon. Planned wave prediction activities will be enhanced.
  3. Local Infrastructure: Development of new infrastructures for the test site such as foundations that will be used for the anchoring of the CETO device and a new dynamic electrical cable to connect the CETO device to the existing electrical infrastructure at BiMEP.
  4. Local Knowledge: Collaboration with BiMEP to perform environmental surveys and deliver knowledge dissemination activity through the life of the Project.
  5. Local Operations and Maintenance:  Collaboration with BiMEP during the two years of deployment of the CETO device around operations and maintenance of wave energy.

The RENMARINAS-DEMOS program follows the main strategic lines of action identified in the recent Roadmap for the development of offshore wind and marine energy in Spain, targeting 40-60 MW of marine energy deployment by 2030, and is supported by NextGenerationEU funds via the Spanish Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia (Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience).

ACHIEVE+

Carnegie Technologies Spain, has been awarded €2.1m for the ACHIEVE+ project by the Ente Vasco de la Energia (EVE), the Basque energy agency, . This award complements the contract awarded by the EuropeWave Project (€3.75m) and RENMARINAS DEMOS funding (€1.2m) creating a total funding pool of €7.05m for the deployment of CETO at the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) in the Basque Country.

The EVE funding awarded will provide targeted support for components of the CETO deployment such as the Buoyant Actuator (BA), Mooring System, Power Take Off (PTO), and Reinforcement Learning (RL) Controller. This support from EVE promotes more local content in the Basque Country, enables reduced technical and financial risks associated with the ACHIEVE CETO deployment, and unlocks and accelerates commercial project opportunities by fostering investor confidence and expanding the global footprint of CETO technology.