CorPower Ocean locks €32M funding to scale wave energy commercialization

Swedish company CorPower Ocean has secured €32 million in Series B1 funding to advance the commercialization of its wave energy technology, marking a step towards making wave power a mainstream, bankable energy source. 

This latest investment round, the largest single investment into CorPower’s technology to date, was led by NordicNinja VC, SEB Greentech, and EIT InnoEnergy, in collaboration with Santander Asset Management, Iberis Capital, and Cisco Investments.

The funding follows CorPower Ocean’s breakthrough with its C4 wave energy device, which withstood the Atlantic storms while maintaining efficient power generation in regular ocean conditions, said the Swedish company. 

The achievement bolstered the company’s position as it expanded its operations across Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, and the U.S. West Coast. Since its founding in 2012, CorPower has secured €95 million from both private and public investors, addressing key barriers to wave energy adoption: storm survivability and energy efficiency.

CEO of CorPower Ocena, Patrik Möller, said: “Today’s announcement follows breakthrough results reported earlier this year from the firm’s ocean demonstration at the Aguçadoura site in northern Portugal, where the CorPower C4 became the first commercial-scale wave device to successfully demonstrate the ability to survive the biggest Atlantic storms combined with a large power generation capacity with respect to the size and cost of equipment.”

CorPower’s technology is already being deployed in several wave energy projects along the Atlantic Arc. Ireland’s state-owned energy supplier ESB is leading the Saoirse Wave project off the coast of County Clare, using CorPower’s wave energy converters (WECs) as part of a CorPack cluster. This pre-commercial project has received €39.4 million in co-funding from the EU Innovation Fund.

“Harvestable and accessible wave energy resources in the world amount to 500GW, with availability and predictability way above wind and solar. As such wave energy is a must to have to supply the 24/7 green electricity, we need to decarbonize the energy and industrial system,” added Diego Pavia, CEO of InnoEnergy. 

C4 can limit response to extreme storm waves for up to 18,5 meters while enhancing motion and power capture in regular waves using phase control technology, said CorPower Ocean.

Markus Hökfelt, Investment Director at SEB GreenTech VC, noted: “This truly is an amazing team of people encompassing world leading engineering skills, know-how, determination and drive, led by a CEO in Patrik Möller with the top qualities that we look for as investors.”

Following its first cycle of ocean commissioning, CorPower Ocean completed on-land inspections and upgrades for its first commercial-scale wave energy device, C4, in July. The Swedish company finalized post-deployment inspections and implemented on-land upgrades based on data gathered from the C4 WEC’s ocean deployment.