Not just passing visitors are curious about the activities at the Port of Heraklion. The impending tests of SINN Power’s first wave energy converter module at the breakwater of Heraklion are also starting to raise the attention of the Greek public.
The purpose of the unusual red floating body next to the small office container is the question the SINN Power engineers are asked about most often these days. The reactions to the answer are manifold: “From enthusiasm about the idea to use the energy from the waves to politely phrased doubts of our sanity – we have had everything so far,” Daniel Kümmel laughs, one of the installation engineers from the SINN Power team. There would be one thing that all passing visitors agreed on, though: Nobody would worry that there could be too little energy in the waves at Heraklion.
Whether the energy in the waves of the Mediterranean Sea could actually be used is a question that the Greek public has begun to ask lately too. A number of print and online media outlets as well as the Cretan TV published reports on the closing of the contract of the German wave energy startup with the Port of Heraklion.
Interview with Port CEO Ioannis Bras on the planned tests on “CRETE TV” (English subtitles available by clicking on “CC”)
The port’s CEO, Ioannis Bras, has big expectations: In case the project is successful, it will be expanded with funds from the EU’s Horizon 2020 program and then supply not only the port but also the coast with electricity. Bras is convinced: “In two years’ time, the entire world will speak of us.”