Designed in the heart of Finland, Wello's Penguin wave energy converter is the result of years of development and testing providing the world most powerful direct drive wave energy converter.
The worlds climate is changing and with it there is a growing need to transition from traditional energy production to cleaner, more sustainable production methods. Renewable energy has already been slowly shaping the way forward, wind, solar, hydroelectric and now with the Penguin, wave energy, will allow all us to make a cleaner world and secure our future.
Inspired by the natural movement of waves, the shape and power take of principle of The Penguin is rotation. It's simple design and operating principle means it's low maintenance while still producing huge amounts of energy. The unique asymmetrical shape of the device is designed to capture the energy in the waves from all sides of the device. As waves crash into its hull, The Penguin rotates in place, gyrating around a central point transferring and capturing the energy from the waves crashing into it. The Penguin is made to survive anything the ocean can throw at it, whilst having zero emissions and being as environmentally neutral as possible the Penguin is designed for sustainability.
Inspired by the natural movement of waves, the shape and power take of principle of The Penguin is rotation. It's simple design and operating principle means it's low maintenance while still producing huge amounts of energy. The unique asymmetrical shape of the device is designed to capture the energy in the waves from all sides of the device. As waves crash into its hull, The Penguin rotates in place, gyrating around a central point transferring and capturing the energy from the waves crashing into it. The Penguin is made to survive anything the ocean can throw at it, whilst having zero emissions and being as environmentally neutral as possible the Penguin is designed for sustainability.
The Penguin is towed to the site, it doesn't impact the landscape and the technology advances gets both increasingly efficient and affordable.
The Penguin can be manufactured in any shipyard and is built for an easy installation.
The direct drive generator captures energy from the waves, sending it to the grid.
Refining rotation
Like how ship manufacturers aim to design the most stable vessel possible, Wello has taken that concept to the other side of the spectrum. By designing a hull that is unstable as possible, gyrating and generating with the constant onslaught of waves berating the device.
The approach to designing and refining both the shape of The Penguin's hull and the control software has always been a physical and data driven approach. For the past decade model testing has been carried out at the Danish Hydrological Institute wave tank in Hørsholm. Testing scale models of the device in an controlled environment has allowed us to develop many iterations of the Penguin. By building upon real world models and seeing how they affect a scale model of the device has we have optimized the shape, ballasting and the control
of the device.
Inside the device connected to a central shaft lives a huge off-center mass which drives the energy production of the Penguin. Each wave hitting the side of the hull causes the device to shift in the direction of the oncoming wave, this in turn, causes the huge mass inside the device to get pushed in the same direction. After a certain angle, the buoyant forces acting on the device take over working to steady the device. However, due to the unique shape of the device and the momentum from the mass itself, instead of coming back to its original starting position the device will rotate along its central axis. By allowing this the rotator can continue its movement around the shaft, ensuring all the power from the wave hitting the device is absorbed. The power take -off unit of the Penguin is connected directly to the mass inside the hull. This direct connection allows for minimal loss when converting this mechanical energy to clean wave energy.
Full scale
The first full scale Penguin was deployed back in 2010 and was tested in the rough conditions of the North Sea, experiencing real sea conditions at the European Marine Energy Center's testing birth for full scale converters. The device had been launched 4 times and during the testing period fulfilled expectations and accomplished what the prototype was built for, having survived waves of over 18 meters, proving invaluable insights on the technology, mooring construction, cable connection, control software, and power take-off construction for subsequent models.
The purpose of this device was to provide valuable data and insight into the challenges of building a full scale wave energy converter in real sea conditions. A feat only a handful of others have managed. During the testing period the device fed information back to Wello allowing the team to refine the design and develop the technology into something that would be a commercially successful renewable energy power station. The next devices promised to do just that.
The purpose of this device was to provide valuable data and insight into the challenges of building a full scale wave energy converter in real sea conditions. A feat only a handful of others have managed. During the testing period the device fed information back to Wello allowing the team to refine the design and develop the technology into something that would be a commercially successful renewable energy power station. The next devices promised to do just that.
Commercially ready
In 2019 Wello completed the construction of our 44-meter Penguin wave energy converter. This device is on of the only actual full-scale wave energy converters to be produced and sets out to be one of the highest energy production devices that has been created. This Penguin sets the benchmarks for state-of-the-art wave energy technology, improving energy generation compared to the previously deployed device in Orkney, and boasting an increase in 380% in energy production. The wave energy converter is destined for deployment in the Basque country deployment at BiMEPS’S site in Armintza. Stay tuned on the news section of the website for more information on the Armitzan Penguin as the months progress.
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