Photograph courtesy of EVE
High-level officials of the Basque government have visited the assembly facility where the Oceantec WEC is being built ahead of September deployment off Spain.
The prototype WEC, designed by Biscay-based wave energy developer Oceantec Energías Marinas, is being assembled in Navacel facilities in Erandio ahead of the scheduled open-sea testing at bimep, off the coast of Armintza.
The Minister of Economic Development and Competitiveness of the Basque Government, Arantxa Tapia, along with the Deputy Minister of Industry, Javier Zarraonandia, and the General Director of EVE, Pilar Urruticoechea, toured the assembly facility together with the representatives from Navacel and Oceantec.
Oceantec WEC consists of three fabricated steel parts that once assembled in Navacel will form a vertical buoy containing the mechanical and electrical equipment capable of generating electricity from waves.
The prototype device is a 42 meter-tall oscillating water column wave energy converter (WEC), with 5 meters in diameter, and weight of around 70 tonnes.
The device generates power when the waves cause water column to rise and fall, compressing and decompressing the air above, which spins the turbine developed by Oceantec.
The deployment of the Oceantec WEC is part of the EU-funded project OPERA (Open Sea Wave Operating Experience to Reduce Energy Cost), coordinated by Tecnalia and EVE.
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