Iberdrola, the Spanish generation developer, has signed a turnkey contract with Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) to build the first phase of the wave energy plant off Santoña in Cantabria.
The plant will be located several kilometres off the coast and will comprise 10 buoys about 7m in diameter and anchored on the seabed at a depth of around 50m. With a total capacity of between 1.25 and 2MW the project – under development by special purpose joint venture company Iberdrola Energías Marinas de Cantabria – will see the first prototype of the PowerBuoy technology developed by OPT.
The first phase of the project, which includes marine electricity infrastructure, is expected to cost some US$3.8M.