The OPERA project team is very excited with this landmark and congratulates OCEANTEC for their significant achievement.
Following the deployment of the MARMOK-A-5 device in October 2016 and later commissioning work, the first kW was injected into the grid on 13th December 2016. Hence, the wave energy device is celebrating this week its first anniversary in the water at BiMEP test site, located 4 km off Armintza (Spain).
During this thrilling year, MARMOK-A-5 has demonstrated survivability in winter seas up to 12 m maximum wave height and displayed increasing availability reaching 85% at present. The research team has been able to gain 1,000 h experience in operation and maintenance as well as confidence in its power performance and mooring system robustness.
MARMOK-A-5 is now prepared for its second winter in a row at BiMEP. Next spring it will be towed in for refitting and integration of the different innovations that have been developed in the OPERA project. Then it will be returned to it mooring site to collect more data for benchmarking.
Prototype development has received funding from the Basque Energy Agency under a Pre-commercial Procurement Contract. This prototype is the main platform to conduct research in the EU-funded OPERA project.
