Barbados and Denmark's Wavepiston Sign Wave Energy Water Supply Agreement

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Ministry of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology of the Government of Barbados and Danish wave energy company Wavepiston have signed a ministerial project cooperation agreement to advance the development of the "Barbados Wave Energy Power and Water Supply Project" (WEBEW). The agreement was signed on behalf of the government by Barbados Minister Jonathan Reid, and sets out the project implementation timeline, dedicated budget, conditional electricity and water purchase prices, and clarifies the path for subsequent financing cooperation, moving the wave energy power generation and seawater desalination project into a further stage of development.

The project is located in Saint Andrew Parish, Barbados, and plans to use Wavepiston wave energy technology to provide marine renewable electricity and desalinated drinking water to the Ocean Valley Data Center and Industrial Park. The project will be implemented in phases, with power supply and water supply facilities jointly incorporated into the development plan, serving the country's Green Industrial Gateway Advantage (GIGA) program. Export Barbados, a state-owned agency under the government, is involved in project development coordination and industrial cooperation.

The new agreement further establishes the commercial implementation conditions of the project. The two parties have incorporated electricity and desalinated water purchase prices into a conditional arrangement, set a dedicated budget and government planning milestones for the project, and are coordinating further acquisition of the funds needed for construction. The relevant purchase prices remain based on the conditions stipulated in the agreement, and the project will continue to advance around financing arrangements, engineering deployment, and commercial supply arrangements.

The WEBEW project previously completed a pre-feasibility study in 2024, with the research work co-funded by the INNOWWIDE program under the EU's Eureka Network. In January 2026, Wavepiston and Export Barbados signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation to advance the commercial pilot development of wave energy in Barbados. This ministerial-level agreement builds on the previous cooperation by adding government-level project implementation arrangements, a budget mechanism, and conditional power and water purchase prices.

The project is also linked with the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, the EU's EuroClima program, and the United Nations Development Programme's cooperation framework for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, and plans to integrate wave energy power generation and desalinated water supply into the energy and water security systems of local industrial facilities.