Irish wave energy technology company Wavebob Ltd. announced today that the EU FP7 R&D programme is to provide grant aid of €5.1 million to a consortium headed by Wavebob Ltd, in order to deploy a pre-commerical, grid-connected wave energy converter(WEC) off the coast of Portugal.

Working under the project name ‘STANDPOINT’, the 6 company consortium aims to demonstrate that the Wavebob device is the most suitable technology to be adopted as the internationally standardized method of harvesting energy from the ocean waves.

The 6 companies working on the project are from 5 EU member states; Wavebob Ltd, (Ireland), Vattenfall (Sweden), Generg Novos Desenvolvimentos (Portugal), Germanischer Lloyd (Germany), Hydac (Germany)and Wedge Global (Spain)..  Wavebob Ltd. will co-ordinate the project, which commenced on 16th November 2009, and will run for a period of three years.

“Throughout the world, various wave energy devices are being tested, using a wide range of very diverse technologies, but a standardized approach to producing energy from the ocean waves has not yet emerged. The ‘STANDPOINT’ consortium believe that large-scale commercial wave farms will be developed much sooner if a best practice approaches are adopted internationally.  This project is an exciting step in the development of wave energy technolog, and, in the development of viable wave farms which will have a major impact on reducing carbon emissions worldwide. Furthermore, it is a strong validation of our technology and approach to working with world-class partners”

Andrew Parish, CEO Wavebob Ltd.

Wavebob has been developing its technology over a ten year period and has been conducting sea trials since 2006. In 2007,  Wavebob first produced electricity from the ocean at the Irish Government test site off the west coast of Ireland.  Testing of the pre-commerical, grid-connected, Wavebob device is expected to begin off the coast of Portugal at the end of 2011.

Commenting on Wavebob’s success, Dr. Imelda Lambkin, National Director for FP7 in Enterprise Ireland said “this is a fantastic result for an Irish SME to secure such significant support from the European Union.  There is stiff competition from across Europe for FP7 funding and the fact that an Irish company won  such a significant amount and will also coordinate this research project proves that Irish R&D is highly regarded internationally.  Irish companies won €32.4 million in EU research funding in the first two years of this programme, 75% of which went to SMEs, so I expect to see more success stories like Wavebob making their mark on the EU research landscape in the 4 remaining years of FP7”.