Wave energy tech developer Carnegie Clean Energy (ASX: CCE)  has been selected to receive a $6.3 million contract as part of the competitive EuropeWave Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) programme.

The Phase 3 EuropeWave contract will engage ’s wholly-owned subsidiary CETO Wave Energy Ireland (CWEI) to build and operate a CETO wave energy converter at a European wave energy test site. The EuropeWave program is an R&D grant program for wave energy tech. It’s a competitive programme designed to advance wave energy converter systems and prove technical and commercial viability for large scale deployment. 

CETO works towards producing renewable power globally. It sits fully submerged and harnesses the energy present in ocean waves and converts it into grid-ready electricity. 

Carnegie’s CEO, Mr Jonathan Fiévez, said, “We are extremely proud. Our team delivered an exceptional Phase 2 package of work and a winning Phase 3 bid that was judged the best solution against strict criteria and competing technologies. Our ACHIEVE project is a significant step forward in CETO’s commercialisation journey as it places CETO in clear sight of Europe’s most progressive utilities and investors.”

The EuropeWave competition takes place in three phases, starting from scanning through tenders, then refining the design, modelling and testing, and finally, testing the devices in real sea conditions off the coasts of the Basque Country and Scotland in 2025. 

Up till Phase 2, projects were judged against the main challenges of LCOE (levelised cost of energy), performance, reliability, availability and survivability. The competition saw a pool of over 30 competing wave energy technologies, narrowing down to seven and then three. CETO Wave Energy Ireland has concluded the competitive phases ranked number one. And because it ranked first, CWEI received the first choice of deployment site. 

The team has selected a berth best suited to the CETO project at the open-water facilities of the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) in the Basque Country, Spain. The project, known as ACHIEVE, will run from September 2023 to May 2026 with CETO deployed from 2025.

EuropeWave combines almost $33.68 million of national, regional and EU funding to drive a competitive Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) programme for wave energy. CWEI has already successfully delivered Phases 1 and 2 and this Phase 3 contract is the final phase of the programme. 

Fiévez shared, “The EuropeWave process has also delivered several major improvements to our technology. It’s going to be incredibly exciting to see them take shape and perform in the energetic seas of the Basque Country. The EuropeWave programme recognises the vast potential of wave technology and the ambition of Europe to diversify energy sources for stability and security. We share these goals on the path to ensuring wave energy is recognised as an essential part of a just and clean energy future.” 

Funded in part by the EU’s Horizon 2020 program, EuropeWave represents a collaborative effort involving Wave Energy Scotland (WES), the Basque Energy Agency (EVE), and Ocean Energy Europe (OEE). This partnership is poised to contribute significantly to the European Commission’s targets of achieving 100MW of ocean energy capacity by 2025 and 1GW by 2030.

This grant win is significant as it not only provides Carnegie with greater funding but it also reaffirms the capabilities of its CETO device. Still more importantly, it paves the way for bigger partnerships with utility companies and project developers.