Wello’s Penguin wave energy device has marked its one-year anniversary of continuous deployment in Orkney, Scotland.
Finnish developer’s Penguin device was redeployed on March 5, 2017, at the European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC’s) grid-connected wave test site at Billia Croo, after making some adjustments to the devices mooring system.
The new mooring system is designed to withstand extremely rough ocean conditions and is more reliable than the previous iteration of the moorings, according to Wello.
During this time, both the moorings and the Penguin have been tested in some of the harshest ocean conditions experienced in years – proving the survivability of both the components and device, Wello informed.
“In October the Penguin was subjected to some of the biggest waves in decades when hurricane Ophelia ravaged the North Atlantic Ocean. During the storm, the waves hit a height of 18 meters, some of the worst conditions any wave energy converter has ever been though. Throughout the storms the Penguin kept producing continuous, clean, renewable energy,” Wello said.
According to the company, the Penguin device has been using all its original components since its original 2012 deployment.
To remind, Wello has recently raised almost €2 million in the crowdfunding campaign conducted via the Invesdor investment platform which said that Wello’s campaign became its second biggest non-IPO funding round ever.