Escola Azul (Blue School) is an educational programme of the Portuguese Ministry of the Sea. Its main goal is to improve the level of Ocean Literacy in schools, creating responsible and active generations that contribute for the Ocean's sustainability. WavEC is one of the Escola Azul partners.
About Us
Our commitment is to do more and better, through innovation, development and transfer of knowledge processes.
Our Mission:
• To develop sustainable solutions for the blue economy through innovation, knowledge transfer and dissemination
• To promote the development of a national value chain with strong potential for exports and based on innovation and qualified personnel
VIEW SERVICES WavEC At a Glance
Professor António Sarmento
Professor
History
Pico Power Plant (400 kW)
Azores
WavEC Offshore Renewables was founded in 2003 - under the name Wave Energy Centre - as a private non-profit association aiming to develop wave energy and support companies and research centres in the area, through technical and political strategies.
In 2013 WavEC changed its name to WavEC Offshore Renewables due to the extension of activities into offshore wind and prospect of expansion to other fields. WavEC defined as its mission to develop offshore renewable energy through the creation and transfer of knowledge, innovation and dissemination.
More recently WavEC extending the scope of activities to offshore aquaculture and ocean engineering projects.
Team
WavEC is formed by a multidisciplinary team specialized in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Computers, Industrial Management, Biology, Environment, Economics and Business Studies.
Board of Directors
António Sarmento
President of the Board of Directors
VIEW BIOGRAPHYDoctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) from the University of Lisbon. Retired (2013) Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of IST.
Founder and President of WavEC Offshore Renewables. Founder and member of the Board of OEE (Ocean Energy Europe, previously the European Association of Ocean Energy) until 2016. Associate Editor of JOWE (Journal of Ocean and Wind Energy). Active in the field of marine renewable energy for almost four decades with work on hydrodynamics, control, conceptual design, LCOE and public policies.
José Chambel Leitão
Member of the Board of Directors - Hidromod
VIEW BIOGRAPHYJosé Chambel Leitão has a Civil Engineering degree and a Doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Lisbon. He has about 30-year experience in consultancy and operational systems in the areas of wind wave’s propagation, hydrodynamics, water quality and dispersion problems, hydrology and river basin management. He is a Director at Wavec and one of the managers of HIDROMOD.
Pedro Valverde
Member of the Board of Directors - EDPI
VIEW BIOGRAPHYPedro Valverde is responsible for the Cleaner Energy field of EDP Innovation and advisor of the director of “Les éoliennes flottantes du golfe du Lion”, an offshore wind project in southern France. He is member of the board of directors of WavEC. Since 2008 he has been involved in the WindFloat project in Portugal as member of the Executive Committee. He works with the venture-capital fund of EDP Innovation. McS degree in Electronics and Computers from IST University and post graduation in Project Management and Assessment from Catholic University Portugal.
Ricardo Morgado
Member of the Board of Directors - ASM Industries
VIEW BIOGRAPHYRicardo start to serve A. Silva Matos (ASM) in 2008 and he is currently the Chief Commercial Officer of ASM Industries, a company that operates in the field of manufacturing of steel equipment for renewable and marine industries, such as wind towers, offshore foundations and marine structures. He has a Degree in Environmental Engineering and a Pos Grad in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, both in University of Aveiro. He also has a MBA in Catolica Porto Business School and a Pos-Grad in Sales Management, in Porto Business School.
Strategic Studies
Ana Brito Melo
Senior Advisor & Head of Strategic Studies
VIEW BIOGRAPHYAna Brito e Melo holds a PhD (2000) and a Master (1995) in Mechanical Engineering and 5-year degree in Civil Engineering (1992) from the IST (Instituto Superior Técnico) of the Technical University in Lisbon. Ana has more than 20 years of experience in marine renewable energies, starting from tank tests and numerical modelling, towards technology assessment, site selection and market studies. She was Executive Director of WavEC during 8 years (Jan 2012 – July 2020). She is further responsible for running the secretariat and communication of the IEA-OES.
Communication
Janete Gonçalves
Communication Manager
VIEW BIOGRAPHYPost Graduate Student of Digital Marketing at IPAM Marketing School (2020-2021). Degree in Social and Cultural Communication at the Universidade Católica de Lisboa (1998). Experienced communication professional responsible for all communication and dissemination activities within WavEC and its projects. Skilled in communication planning, digital & social media and offline content creation, event management, public outreach and engagement, and internal communication. www.linkedin.com/in/janetegoncalves
Economy and Business Development
José Cândido
Head of Economy and Business Development
VIEW BIOGRAPHYPhD in Mechanical Engineering by Instituto Superior Técnico (IST). Degree in Oceanography/Meteorology by Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa (FCUL). Senior researcher and project manager in offshore renewable energy projects. Research and consultancy activity in offshore renewable energy economics, resource assessment and site selection.
Craig White
Junior Researcher
VIEW BIOGRAPHYMaster’s degree in Renewable Energy Systems Technology at Loughborough University, UK, with specialisation in offshore wind and advanced solar. Craig worked in solar system design and smart buildings at Swansea University for 2 years, before moving to Lisbon in 2019. Craig joined WavEC in 2020 in the scope of the FLOAWER ITN to work on the development of techno-economic tools and databases for offshore wind and he will enroll in a PhD from Instituto Superior Técnico.
Engineering and Operations
Filipe Arede
Head of Engineering and Operations
VIEW BIOGRAPHY5-year diploma in Civil Engineering with further postgraduate studies in Steel and Composite Structures complemented by an Executive MBA. Filipe accumulates 13 years of engineering experience, including 4 years in the Norwegian subsea sector. Previous roles included Integrity & Structural Analysis, Project Management, Team Management and Business Development.
Paulo Chainho
Project Engineer, Electrical Components and Instrumentation
VIEW BIOGRAPHYMaster degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, with specialization in Energy, at Instituto Superior Técnico, where he has done research on grid integration of offshore renewable energy. Paulo is working in the monitoring and technology department with focus on electrical components and instrumentation.
Francisco Correia da Fonseca
Offshore Operations Specialist
VIEW BIOGRAPHYMaster’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Executive Master in Sustainable Energy Systems, from Instituto Superior Técnico, with specialization in offshore renewable energy systems. Experience in experimental testing of wave energy converters, control and ocean renewable resource assessment. Project manager in projects related to offshore operations for marine renewable energy systems.
Luís Amaral
Marine Renewables O&M Data Engineer
VIEW BIOGRAPHYMaster in Electrotechnical Engineering and Computer Science at Instituto Superior Técnico in 2015”. He has worked in plastic packaging industry until 2018. Over this 3 years, he operated in areas such as automation, energy management and project management. In 2018, he joined WavEC to work as Marine Renewable O&M Data Engineer
Environment and Licensing
Erica Cruz
Project Manager and Researcher, Marine Bioacoustics
VIEW BIOGRAPHY HPC & Data Science
Guilherme Vaz
CSO, Head of HPC and DataScience
VIEW BIOGRAPHYAerospace Engineer with Phd in Mechanical/Naval Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST, Portugal) and at Maritime Research Institute of Netherlands (MARIN, the Netherlands). Expert on potential and viscous-flow CFD tools and high-performance computing (HPC). Creator of open-usage/open-source multiphase CFD code www.refresco.org. 19 years of experience (Portugal, the Netherlands and Germany) on CFD, Hydrodynamics and Aerodynamic modelling of Maritime, Ocean Engineering and Renewable Energy structures. Published more than 120 articles on these subjects.
Bénédicte Dommergues
Project Manager
VIEW BIOGRAPHYBénédicte has a MSc. in maritime engineering at Ecole Centrale Marseille. She specialized in CFD, studying the behaviour of plastics particles at the vicinity of the plastic cleanup systems, validating her models with basin and offshore tests. She has been focused on marine renewable energies (MRE), designing transportation and installation tools for offshore wind turbines. Before joining Wavec's team, she participated in the development of the hydrokinetic, vertical axis turbine of WindCity, answering a H2020 call for projects.
Financial Management and Secretarial
Carla Bacelar
Head of the Financial Management and Secretariat Area
VIEW BIOGRAPHYAlliances/Partners
Meric
MERIC focuses on interdisciplinary research for harnessing marine renewable energy and adapting the existing technologies to the extreme conditions of Chile. WavEC partner since 2020.
Veritas
An environmental engineering company that develops environmental engineering projects and solutions that seek compliance and balance between projects in renewable energy, industrial, mineral extraction, highways, railways, ports, airports, electricity generation and transmission and sanitation. WavEc partner since 2019.
LWET - University of Rostock
The Chair of Wind Energy Technology objetive is to further research in the field of renewable energies and to promote Rostock as a leading location for the development of new wind energy technologies. WavEC partner since 2019.
Seawind Ocean Technology
Start-up comapny active in designing, manufacturing, assembling, installing, financing and operating offshore wind turbines. WavEC partner since 2019.
Numeca
Numeca provides fast and reliable CFD software solutions for flow and multiphysics simulation, design and optimization.
WavEC represents Numeca in Portugal and South Africa.
Rota Grega
Portuguese company with more than 20 years of experience of work with some of the major world producers in aquaculture. WavEC partner since 2017.
LOC (London Offshore Consultants)
World leader company in Marine Warranty Services in the field of offshore oil and gas, offshore wind energy and maritime transport. WavEC partner since 2017.
Ocean Energy Systems (OES)
Ocean Energy Systems Technology Collaboration Programme
WavEC is responsible for the secretariat of the Executive Committee
Ocean Energy Europe (OEE)
WavEC is member of the Board of Directors
EERA Ocean Energy Joint Programme
European Energy Research Alliance. WavEC is member of the Board.
ANNEX IV - Environmental Effects of Marine Energy Development around the World
Established by the IEA Ocean Energy Systems (OES) in January 2010. WavEC is is the national delegate.
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
WavEC is Chair-invited Member since 2013.
Lisbon Ocean Innovation Centre
Lisbon Ocean Innovation Centre
Clients
WavEC has been working with clients all around the world, highlighting Europe, USA, Canada, Australia.
We are committed to find solutions for the needs of our clients.
Testimonials
Very professional work. Pay attention also for the details that each different clients need with a customize profile. For this new sector, that´s important point to be marked. Each new project idea has a different level of development and technical skill for group and person. Wavec for our specific case, understand very well our needs.
Sandro Bracchi
BS ITALY SRL
O Parecer corresponde, integralmente, ao solicitado, tendo superado as minhas melhores expectativas. Excelente.
Rui Rebelo
Empresa de Electricidade da Madeira
We had a very pleasant, cooperative contact from the beginning until the end of the project. WavEC was professional, well organised and pro-active. The turn-out of the project was beyond expectations. We certainly look forward to continue our cooperation in the future.
Marieke Monroy-Winter
WavEC performed the work as it was expected and - in the uncertainty of the project - was able to produce a valid and compressive work. I recommend WavEC for all energy offshore projects as a most valid partner.
João Cardoso
CEO, Enondas
I have been working with WavEC in several projects for the last two years. I have had the opportunity to work closely with Antonio Sarmento, Marco Alves and Alex Raventos. To achieve Wedge Global’s rapid technology development in Europe and the US, we relied upon the talents of highly motivated people such as WavEC’s Team. We’ve got great results in different topics, hydrodinamic simulation, control strategies, system design and economic modelling, which have been crucial to our ongoing success. WavEC was pivotal in preparing and submitting applications for funding opportunitties in Europe and the US, and really helpful to entry into new geographies such as the US. During my interactions with the WavEC Team, I found them to be independent thinkers that considered not only near term issues but also longer term strategic concerns that placed our overall approach in an appropriate context. Their thinking shows that they can integrate big and very challenging problems. Furthermore, their ability to effectively communicate with others and sell ideas enabled us to promote our agenda broadly. In our two years of working together, WavEC improved our business and helped position Wedge Global as a reputable brand in the wave energy industry. In my opinion, WavEC should set up a branch in the US to improve the quality of its services.
Francisco Garcia
Chargé d'Affaires, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Great job and already recommended to one of our shareholders IBERDROLA.
Jose Luis Aguiriano
Managing Director, Oceantec
Fluid communication and collaborative working environment. High quality of results and positive availability to explain details on how those results were obtained
Oscar Prieto
Repsol
I am very happy to write to confirm that WavEC – Offshore Renewables (Portugal) are contributing to the IEE funded Project SOWFIA as leader of Work Package 4. The project runs from October 2010 to September 2013. WavEC’s contribution has been carried out in a professional manner and all tasks required at this point in time have fully completed according to the work programme. It is a pleasure to work with WavEC; the work has been to an excellent high standard and on time and we would be delighted to work with WavEC again, should the opportunity arise.
Deborah Greaves