CorPower Ocean secures funding to commercialize wave energy

CorPower Ocean (Stockholm, Sweden) announces that it has received the largest single investment in its wave energy technology — featuring a composite hull — after securing €32 million Series B1 funding (first close), marking a significant development for wave energy, which is accelerating toward a bankable mainstream energy source.

This investment is led by NordicNinja VC, a Japanese-backed, European VC focusing on deep tech and climate tech, SEB Greentech, the cleantech investment arm of the SEB bank and cleantech investor InnoEnergy. The investor consortium also includes Santander Asset Management, a financer of renewable energy assets, Iberis Capital, a Portuguese venture capital and private equity investor and Cisco Investments, which has a strategic focus on using technology to help accelerate the transition to clean energy, plus existing shareholders.

“We’re grateful for the support and confidence from this group of investors who bring crucial experience and capacity to support our mission to power the planet with clean electricity from ocean waves,” says Patrik Möller, co-founder and CEO of CorPower Ocean.

In CorPower Ocean, 85 people from 22 countries have come together in an effort to bring utility scale wave energy to the world. The company currently has operations in Sweden, Norway, Portugal and Scotland, and is expanding to the U.S. West Coast. Established in 2012, CorPower Ocean has now secured €95 million in funding from private and public investors and successfully demonstrated four generations of its technology, addressing the two main challenges which have held back commercial adoption of wave energy — storm survivability and efficient power generation in normal ocean conditions.

“Harvestable and accessible wave energy resources in the world amount to 500 gigawatts, with availability and predictability exceeding that of wind and solar. As such, wave energy is a must-have to supply 24/7 green electricity, meaning we need to decarbonize the energy and industrial system. CorPower Ocean has consistently demonstrated the energy ratings and maintainability it promised, specifically in harsh environments. With this financing round, we speed up the commercialization phase,” says InnoEnergy CEO Diego Pavia.

Wave farm projects include Ireland’s state-owned energy supplier, ESB, off the coast of County Clare, following two decades of investigating a variety of technologies. The pre-commercial phase of the Saoirse Wave project will involve CorPower Ocean wave energy converters (WECs) as part of a CorPack cluster. The project has secured €39.4 million co-funding from the EU Innovation Fund.

CorPower Ocean’s first full-scale WEC prototype, installed for ocean trials in 2021, is a 9-meter-diameter spherical buoy. The buoy is composed of filament-wound glass fiber composites, converting its motion into electricity.  

“Earlier this year, the firm’s ocean demonstration at the Aguçadoura site in northern Portugal reported that the CorPower C4 has become the first commercial scale wave device to successfully demonstrate the ability to survive the biggest Atlantic storms, combined with a large power generation capacity with respect to the size and cost of equipment,” Möller continues. “Our financing, combined with the technology breakthrough recently reported, delivers a firm message about wave energy’s readiness for widescale adoption and its key role in the global energy transition.”