AW-Energy finishes three-year WaveFarm project

Finland-based wave energy technology developer, AW-Energy, has completed the three-year WaveFarm project founded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund through the Blue Economy Window.

According to the company, this initiative is a step forward for the WaveRoller wave energy converter, showing a way to sustainable and economically feasible wave energy solutions.

The project started in late 2020, working to ensure market readiness of AW-Energy’s WaveRoller solutions by preparing processes for projects with 5-10 MW capacity, ahead of the EU target of 150 MW installed capacity by 2030.

Also, one of the project’s aims was to facilitate the market uptake of wave energy by developing a scalable business and service model to support future wave farms totaling 200 GW and more.

The company announced finishing the project on March 21, 2024. 

AW-Energy highlighted that practical experience from full-scale deployments led to innovations improving energy capture, efficiency, operational lifespan, and the streamlining of manufacturing, logistics, installation, and maintenance processes.

As a result, the productization of the WaveRoller technology now simplifies all phases of a wave farm lifecycle, the company stated.

“We’re delighted to have successfully completed the WaveFarm project. Our team is committed to ensuring wave energy plays a pivotal role in our global energy mix, which is evident in the improved product family,” said Christopher Ridgewell, CEO of AW-Energy.

“We were able to incorporate the experience gained through our previous deployments so that our customers can more effectively plug into wave energy.”

AW-Energy’s WaveRoller is to be deployed offshore Namibia under a memorandum of understanding signed with Kaoko Green Energy in May 2023. 

For this purpose, the partners appointed I.N.K Enviro Consultants to conduct the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) in November 2023.