Wärtsilä Partners with AW-Energy on Wave Power Generation

Wärtsilä and Finnish-based AW-Energy announced they had signed a global co-operation agreement covering sales and delivery of WaveRoller, a wave energy technology developed by AW-Energy, on a turn-key basis across the life-cycle.

The co-operation is based on AW-Energy’s patented and certified technology and Wärtsilä Energy Solutions’ global project execution, services and integration capabilities. Ocean energy is the largest untapped renewable energy source with a potential for hundreds of GWs generation capacity. In addition to the vast resource potential, ocean waves and sea states can be accurately predicted up to days in advance, making it the long awaited addition in the next generation energy mix. Thus, the emerging wave power technology has all the pre-requisites to take an equally sizable and important role with solar and wind in the future. The technology is now at a stage where commercially operating pilot installations can be delivered to customers interested in wave power and the complementary capabilities of both companies pave the way for WaveRoller in commercial roll-out.

“Wärtsilä strives to bring smart technologies enabling sustainable societies, and AW-Energy is a prominent player in wave power. We have chosen to co-operate with AW-Energy to be at the forefront of this development and to offer wave power solutions to our customers worldwide, as a leading energy solutions provider and system integrator,” says Javier Cavada, President, Wärtsilä Energy Solutions.

“Today, WaveRoller is involved in projects with ongoing development in Europe, Americas and Asia and the total pipeline under discussions is circa 300MW including industry flagship projects, spearheading the emerging industry. As the leading player in the wave energy field, it is crucial that we choose partners of the highest credibility and know-how. Cooperation with a world-class technology group like Wärtsilä demonstrates the commercial readiness level of our technology and positions AW-Energy as the frontrunner in the supply and development of wave energy technology,” says John Liljelund, CEO of AW-Energy.

The co-operation under the signed agreement will primarily focus on project deliveries. In addition, there is a significant potential for further co-operation between the companies also in other fronts such as technology and life-cycle services. This cooperation announcement comes a few months after Wärtsilä announced it would support the development of the latest WaveRoller wave energy converter.