Sign of these Covidian times, when wave power pioneer Bombora recently welcomed first minister of Wales Mark Drakeford to Pembroke Dock where it is testing its first full-scale 1.5MW mWave device, it did so via videolink for a ‘virtual tour’.
“Renewable energy is at the heart of our vision for Wales’ future and generating sustainable marine energy from our abundant natural wave and tidal resource is an essential step towards creating a low carbon economy,” Drakeford said after the tour of is assembly facility.
Over 50% of Bombora’s Pembrokeshire demonstration project was delivered by the local supply chain.
Bombora managing director Sam Leighton said: “Bombora has ambitious growth plans that will see significant additional inward investment to Wales and result in further job creation and export opportunities.”
Jess Hooper, programme manager at advocacy body Marine Energy Wales, said technologies “like Bombora’s mWave further the opportunity for a diverse and resilient energy mix, that we can call home-grown and export to the world”.
Bombora last year signed up to work with Britain’s Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult to see if floating wind and wave systems can work together to share infrastructure such as moorings – which can account for up to 30% of a floating wind project’s capex – grid connections or even entire platforms, reducing overall levelised cost of energy.
