Bombora Wave Power eyes EU market, starting with 1.5MW Portugal project

Up and coming WA wave energy developer Bombora Wave Power says its mWave technology is attracting strong interest in Europe, where the company has plans to roll out a series of commercial-scale wave farms, starting in Portugal.

In an company update on Wednesday, Bombora said it was in talks with a number of interested parties in Europe and beyond, after the results of a recent feasibility study suggested its technology could produce “the most economically viable wave powered electricity in the world.”

As we reported in April, the study, based on a proposed 60MW Portugal wave farm, showed that the cost of electricity from the company’s wave farms would be comparable to the cost of electricity from off-shore wind farms and solar arrays in Europe by 2023 (see chart below).

So far, however, Bombora’s only foray out of the lab has seen it test a mid-scale prototype in a part of Perth’s Swan River in September 2015.

The company now plans to build and test a single cell version of its mWave technology in Henderson, WA, during the first half of 2017, ahead of deploying its first full size multi-cell mWave in Portugal, 700m offshore from Peniche, starting at a capacity of 1.5MW.

Bombora said construction of the first cell was being funded from the private capital raising announced in April 2016, which has been extended to cover the deployment and commissioning of the single cell.

The environmental approval process for the 1.5MW Peniche project is being conducted in conjunction with Lisbon based WavEC.

Bombora said timing for deployment of the Portugal plant would be firmed up as the project in Henderson progressed.

“The results of our comprehensive financial analysis of mWave wave farms …has drawn attention from a number of international energy industry suppliers, who we are now in discussions with,” Bombora CEO Sam Leighton said.

“We are delighted to reach the construction phase of a full size cell for the mWave and are engaging local and international suppliers to build this world class technology. The opportunities are immense and we appreciate the support and confidence the investment community has shown in our mWave product.”