Spanish company in MOU for wave energy

SYDNEY, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Wave energy company BioPower Systems signed a memorandum of understanding with Spain's Elecnor to develop projects in Spain, Portugal and South America.

BioPower Systems, an Australian company exploring wave energy technology, announced an agreement with The Elecnor Group, a leading Spanish engineering company in the energy sector, to establish two companies to explore the use of BioPower's bioWAVE system.

"Wave energy is now emerging as a new clean energy source and we recognize many advantages if the right technology is used," said A. Javier Esquivas, business director at Elecnor.

The bioWAVE system is a 1MW system that transforms kinetic wave energy into electrical power. BioPower describes the system as a utility-scale grid-connected renewable energy system that has little to no adverse affects on marine life.

Several bioWAVE devices lay on the sea floor to form wave energy farms that transfer electricity to a local energy grid.

BioPower announced earlier this month plans to work with the city of San Francisco to examine the feasibility of a wave energy project site 5 miles off the coast of California. The project could generate between 10MW and 100MW of power.