Finnish marine technology heavyweight Wärtsilä has signed a global cooperation deal with compatriot wave power start-up AW-Energy to commercialise the latter's WaveRoller concept, in a breakthrough for a sector that reached near-collapse only a few years ago.

The agreement, covering sales and delivery of WaveRollers "on a turnkey basis across the life-cycle", is driven by a strategic shift at Wärtsilä toward a technology it sees as having "all the pre-requisites to take an equally sizable and important role with solar and wind in the future [global energy market]”.