Overview
- DNV issued the world’s first Prototype Certificate for a wave energy converter on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, validating CorPower Ocean’s C4 under the DNV-SE-0120 standard.
- The certified unit is a 9‑metre diameter, 18‑metre tall spherical composite buoy of about 100 tonnes that has operated 4 km offshore Aguçadoura, Portugal, since 2023 and has fed power into the grid.
- DNV’s approval followed a seven‑year, stage‑gated review that independently checked design, structural strength, fatigue analyses, manufacturing, installation, operations and survivability in storms up to 18.5 metres.
- CorPower says the certificate meaningfully reduces technology risk, which should make it easier to secure project finance and commercial insurance for its first industrial arrays in Portugal and Scotland.
- DNV is widely used as the offshore energy benchmark, so this milestone could speed wave energy’s move from demonstration to multi‑device farms and investors will be watching CorPower’s planned 2027–2029 deployments for proof of scale.