History

» Where it all began

The founder of Wello Oy, Heikki Paakkinen, started developing wave energy devices and technology as a hobby already as a young boy. He used to build model boats at his family’s summer cottage, trying to figure out how they could propel themselves. He developed and built several concepts for wave propulsion and later for energy production. During this testing period Heikki was hit with and epiphany, that if a device has a proper shape the mass inside the device should rotate. He has gone through and tested practically all technologies that nowadays are being developed for wave energy exploitation.

Based on this background he developed his own principles and requirements for a good wave energy converter. These are:

• Rotational movement derived directly from wave motion.
• Motion by hull shape, not by mechanisms.
• Components inside hull.
• No moving parts in contact with water.
• Utilization of accelerations instead of direct mechanical forces.
• Invention based on asymmetric hull and vertical axis patent application

In 2008, Wello Oy was established. The inspiration for the name of the company came from similarities to the German word for wave ‘welle’ and the English ‘swell’.

The company expanded slowly when new partners joined and the determined goal was to develop the device into a product with the aid of various subsidies. There are currently twelve employees in the company and the prototypes are tested by the rugged coast in Scotland and in Finland in its capital area.

Heikki’s environmental ideology laid base for his development work: he wanted to develop a device producing clean energy without harming the environment. The power of wind is stored in waves and converted into energy by the Penguin, Wello’s wave energy converter, securing clean constant energy production.