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]”.

“Wärtsilä strives to bring smart technologies enabling sustainable societies, and AW-Energy is a prominent player in wave power," says Javier Cavada, president of Wärtsilä Energy Solutions.

"We have chosen to cooperate with AW-Energy to be at the forefront of this development and to offer wave power solutions to our customers worldwide, as a leading energy solutions provider and system integrator.”

John Liljelund, chief executive of AW-Energy, tells Recharge: “Wärtsilä's track record in delivering power plants is outstanding as they have secured and completed projects in over 170 countries around the world. So the EPC [engineering, procurement, construction] agreement with Wärtsilä raises our global reach to another level.

“It is crucial that we choose partners of the highest credibility and know-how. Cooperation with a world-class technology group like Wärtsilä demonstrates the commercial readiness level of our technology and positions AW-Energy as the frontrunner in the supply and development of wave energy technology."

AW-Energy – an early mover in the sector and survivor of the slump in the emerging market in 2014 that led to lead players Pelamis and Aquamarine Power going into receivership – has had a grid-connected 300kW array running off Peniche, Portugal since 2012.

The WaveRoller, which has been scaled up to a 1MW design, is built around a submerged steel panel fixed to seabed that flexes as waves pass over it, driving a hydraulic piston that pumps transfer fluid into a hydraulic motor to powers a generator on shore.

The tie-up, which builds on a technology support deal announced by Wärtsilä and AW-Energy in May, will now “primarily focus on project deliveries”, according to the partners, with a “significant potential for further co-operation between the companies also in other fronts such as technology and life-cycle services”.

Estimates of the size and speed of the potential wave and tidal energy roll-out around the world range widely. Ocean Energy Europe, the industry’s representative body in Europe, is targeting 100GW of installed capacity by 2050, meeting 10% of member states’ power demand.

Technology

Finnish tie up to deliver industrial wave power