Orecon seals Portuguese deal

1
2779

orecon-logo-1-0Orecon has signed an agreement, with a Portuguese shipyard, for the construction of the first three wave to energy devices.

Following its recent agreement with Portuguese developer Eneolica, to develop a 4.5MW wave energy site, Orecon has announced that it has signed a letter of intent with the local shipyard Estaleiros Navais Do Mondego.

The two companies have agreed a contract to build Orecon’s 1.5MW MRC wave energy devices for the Portuguese market. Construction for the first unit is scheduled to start in February 2010, to be ready for installation in spring 2011.

Estaleiros Navais do Mondego is based in Figueira da Foz, on Portugal’s Atlantic facing west coast, in the estuary of Mondego River, which is ideally located near to the intended installation site.

Estaleiros Navais do Mondego has 65 years of shipbuilding, ship repair and ship design experience, using steel and aluminum. It has built 250 vessels for different purposes including: fishing boats, tugs, barges, ro-ro-platforms, dredgers, ferries, container ships, tankers, oceanographic research, military and leisure craft.

Orecon’s business development director, Ken Street, commented: “The Portuguese wave market is by far the best in Europe. They have an excellent wave resource and the country’s long narrow shape means that grid connection and distribution are much simpler to achieve than elsewhere.

“The clear feed in tariff scheme makes the business case easier for developers like Orecon to establish and grow a new industry, which will create and secure local jobs. We have benefited greatly from the encouraging support given by Estaleiros Navais do Mondego and we are looking forward to a long and productive relationship.”

1 COMMENT

Comments are closed.