Oceanlinx MK3

The Mk3 Pre-Commercial, or Mk3PC for short, was a 1/3 scale demonstration device of the fully commercial blueWAVE design, but was designed to be limited in its life, operations, and scale to suit both the environment at Port Kembla and its purpose as a demonstration of the technology. The Mk3PC was installed at Port Kembla on 26 February 2010, about 100 metres off the eastern breakwater of Port Kembla Harbour. It was connected to the grid and provided electricity from 19 March to May 14 2010 to customers of local retailer, Integral Energy. The Mk3PC is believed to have been the first of its size in Australia to be grid connected, and one of the first in the world. While the MK3PC was designed for a shorter than normal life, it served the very important and specific function of verifying the performance of the Oceanlinx blueWAVE product in open ocean conditions, as well as its ability to provide acceptable grid-quality power to an established electricity retailer. The MK3PC immediately proved successful in achieving these aims, and validated the ability of the full scale blueWAVE design to be rated at 2.5 MW. Performance of the test unit was certified by DNV.