WATCH: AW-Energy recovers WaveRoller after two years in operation

Finnish wave energy company AW-Energy has recently retrieved its 300kW WaveRoller wave energy device after being submerged and operating for two years offshore Portugal.

Deployed in October 2019, the WaveRoller underwent extended sea trials which served for fine-tuning of its control system to maximise the performance and yield.

Following the retrieval of the device to the Port of Peniche earlier this summer, which marked the final phase of the trials, AW-Energy’s team started the inspection process on the unit before carrying out a detailed examination of all its external and internal components.

WaveRoller device consists of a single movable panel and a power take-off (PTO) system, submerged on a foundation.

The back-and-forth movement of water driven by wave surge puts the WaveRoller panel into motion. As the WaveRoller panel moves and absorbs the energy from ocean waves, hydraulic piston pumps attached to the panel pump hydraulic fluids inside a closed hydraulic circuit.

The high-pressure fluids are fed into a power storage and smoothing system, which connects to a hydraulic motor that drives an electricity generator to produce power.