Cornwall Wave Hub to be sold for offshore wind farm

Hexicon said it intended to start delivering offshore wind power through the Wave Hub in 2025

A £42m wave energy facility launched 11 years ago is to be sold to an offshore wind farm company.

Wave Hub, an undersea "socket" located off Hayle in Cornwall, is meant to transfer electricity from wave energy producers to the National Grid.

So far no firms have used the facility for that purpose.

Owner Cornwall Council said it would be sold for an undisclosed sum to Swedish firm Hexicon in a deal expected to be completed at the end of May.

Wave Hub is linked to the mainland via an undersea cable

Wave Hub, forecast to be a "world class facility", was financed by the South West of England Regional Development Agency (£12.5m), the European Regional Development Fund Convergence Programme (£20m) and the UK government (£9.5m).

The site, 10 miles (16km) north of St Ives and Carbis Bay, is linked to the mainland via an undersea cable, but no power has been transferred through it.

Ownership was transferred to Cornwall Council in 2017 and the authority said it "received around £14m to cover ongoing operations, support for the marine renewables sector and decommissioning costs".

Hexicon said it and engineering firm Bechtel planned to install a maximum of four turbines on two floating foundations, with a total capacity of up to 40 megawatts, to start delivering power to about 45,000 homes a year by 2025.

Energy producers were to connect devices to the Wave Hub

Cornwall Council said it would "provide support" to the project through its own company, Wave Hub Development Services (WHDS).

WHDS chairman Steve Jermy said the "milestone agreement" would "kick-start" plans to install more wind power in the region "which could create thousands of jobs and generate hundreds of millions of pounds".

Hexicon chief executive Marcus Thor said the site was "an essential stepping stone" to its "long-term ambition" of developing wind projects.

Phil Mason, Cornwall Council strategic director economic growth, said Cornwall "has a part to play in the future of the offshore wind industry" and help meet "ambitious" government wind power targets.