The latest publication of the ‘Ocean Energy Key Trends and Statistics 2019 Report’, by Ocean Energy Europe (OEE) has highlighted the expansion of the wave energy market.

Deployments are growing steadily with capacity up by 25% from the previous year. This reflects technological advancement and sustained Research, Development & Innovation funding leading to continuous improvements.

Maximizing the abundant natural resource proffered by the Atlantic coast, project installations stretch from Portugal to Scotland having reached a cumulative install capacity of 11.8MW since 2010. 1.5MW is currently in the water, the remaining 10.3MW has been decommissioned following the completion of testing.

Europe’s potential capacity is soon set to double as Bombora, a Welsh based ocean energy company, will deploy its 1.5MW mWave Pembrokeshire Demonstration Project, a full-scale wave energy converter, in the next 12 months.

Bombora’s patented membrane technology, mWave, reinforces the ‘Ocean Energy Report’ findings and provides further evidence of the growing market opportunity.

The International Energy Agency predicts that wave energy can provide 10% of the world’s global needs by 2050. The OEE report reflects the current drive and ambition amongst European based developers to play a significant role in delivering on this target as they lead the global race to connect wave power to the grid.

“Ocean Energy Europe’s Report confirms our belief in the enormous and very real potential of wave energy to support global efforts to mitigate against the effects of climate change. What we need to see now is medium-term market visibility and the financial support mechanisms to maintain Europe’s leadership position.“

Sam Leighton, Bombora’s managing director.

Bombora’s 1.5MW mWave Pembrokeshire Demonstration project will deliver 50% of the 3MW wave energy converter deployment forecast across Europe for the next 12 months.