Swedish wave power is rolling towards a world first

In less than two years, the slowly undulating waters off Sweden’s west coast could be powering a field of hundreds of yellow, buoy-topped marine-energy devices, following a decision last month by national energy authority Energimyndigheten to stump up half the cost of a groundbreaking wave farm, which is in the running to be the world’s largest once switched on.

The SKr250m ($34.7m) Sotenäs wave-power demonstration project, being developed by Finnish energy giant Fortum with Swedish technology partner Seabased Industry 10km from the town of Smögen, is designed to be made up of 420 24-kilowatt (kW) units with a nameplate generating capacity of 10 megawatts (MW).

The wave-energy converter (WEC) concept at the heart of the project, invented by Seabased Industry founders Mats Leijon and Hans Bernhoff, marks a break from the various highly engineered wave-riding machines heading for installation in the wind-lashed offshore waters off Scotland and the US.

Seabased’s

Wave Tidal Hydro

Swedish wave power is rolling towards a world first