Mutriku Wave Plant Hits 2GWh Mark

Basque Energy Agency, Ente Vasco de la Energía (EVE), said that Mutriku Wave Energy Plant has generated an accumulated figure of 2GWh.

It is the first time it has been achieved by a wave power plant anywhere in the world, EVE said.

Opened in 2011, the commercially operative facility generates electricity on an uninterrupted basis, harnessing the rise and fall of the waves.

All the power produced, equivalent to the consumption of nearly one hundred families, is sold to the grid.

Mutriku now holds the record for longest time in service, most electricity generated, most electricity sold and most accumulated operating hours and availability.

In 2016, five years after it was commissioned, Mutriku became the first facility of its kind to have produced one gigawatt hours.

The plant is located in the breakwater protecting the entrance to the harbour at Mutriku, a coastal village in the Basque Country after which the facility is named. It is made up of a series of turbines containing 16 oscillating water column (OWC) units, manufactured in the Basque Country, with a total installed capacity of 296 kW.

Since 2019 the Mutriku Plant has formed part of the Basque marine energy test centre, BIMEP (Biscay Marine Energy Platform). The centre also has offshore facilities for floating devices, including wave energy collectors and wind-power systems, off the coast of Armintza.

In addition to producing electricity, one of the principal functions of the Mutriku site is to act as a testbed for new technologies related to turbines and monitoring systems. Marine technologies are still under development and improvement, as companies seek to achieve more effective systems with greater output, higher efficiency and lower costs.