CorPower Ocean and NTNU join forces on AI-controlled wave energy tech

Swedish wave energy developer CorPower Ocean has secured funding from Sweden’s national innovation agency, Vinnova, to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its wave energy technology in collaboration with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). 

According to CorPower Ocean, the WACE (Wave energy AI-based Control Enhancement) project, running until November 2025, aims to optimize performance and control strategies for wave energy converters (WECs).

This follows CorPower Ocean’s recent €32 million Series B funding round to advance its technology towards commercialization. The investment came after its full-scale C4 device withstood record-breaking Atlantic storms while maintaining power generation.

“The optimal operation of wave energy converters is one of the key factors to lower the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), ultimately making it an attractive part of the future clean energy mix,” said WACE Project Lead and CorPower Ocean Control Engineer, Gabriel Forstnersaid.

“The main goal of the WACE Project is to combine AI methods with optimal control to enhance our existing operating strategy and further improve the performance of our point absorber type wave energy converter.”

The WACE project will deploy a model-based design framework to develop and test an AI-based optimal control strategy. A hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test setup will be used to validate performance in real-time conditions. 

CorPower Ocean said it expects WECs to operate in arrays, generating vast amounts of data. The project will leverage this data to refine model-predictive control strategies, combining AI with existing optimal control methods to enhance operational efficiency while maintaining system stability.

CorPower Ocean’s WECs incorporate a tuning and detuning mechanism that adjusts to ocean conditions, limiting response in storms while amplifying power capture in regular waves.

This feature has been validated through operational testing of the C4 device in Aguçadoura, Portugal, under the HiWave-5 demonstration project. The company compares this function to wind turbine blade pitching, which adjusts to optimize performance based on wind conditions.

“The idea of this project is to utilize an existing control algorithm for WECs and combine it with AI-based methods to improve the performance of the overall closed-loop control scheme,” Forstner said. 

“This approach is not limited to WECs and can be extended to improve existing control algorithms in a wide range of industrial applications.”

CorPower Ocean’s technology is being deployed in wave farm projects along the Atlantic Arc, including Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, and Norway. Ireland’s state-owned energy supplier, ESB, is integrating CorPower Ocean WECs into the pre-commercial phase of the Saoirse Wave project off the County Clare coast. The project, part of a CorPack cluster, has secured €39.4 million in EU Innovation Fund co-funding.

Just recently, CorPower Ocean and Norway-based OPS Solutions developed a pre-tension cylinder (PTC) prototype, marking a step toward reducing the cost and mass of WECs.