Investors Test Wave Energy Converters in the Atlantic Ocean

During this summer, two Finnish wave energy converter devices will be tested to prove the viability of wave energy.

As Yle reports, these prototypes from two Finnish investors are being demonstrated in the Atlantic Ocean.

The „WaveRoller“, one of the devices, will be demonstrated off the coast of Portugal, and the other, „The Penguin“, is being tested on the Scotland coast.

Heikki Paakkinen, developer of „The Penguin“, and the Managing Director of Wello, a Finnish company specialising in ocean wave energy, stated: “Though the sea looks calm, strong movement is constantly taking place inside the device”.

Given that wave energy converters are still a new invention, investors are required to build full-scale units to convince power companies.

Paakkinen added: “We can prove these things with calculations and tests, but in the end people will only believe when they see something for real. So we make a full-scale version”.

Experts at the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, which funded the development of the mentioned devices, have high hopes for a growing market in wave power.

It is estimated that the first pre-commercial power units could be designed not sooner than next year.

[mappress]

Subsea World News Staff , July 31, 2012; Image: Wello