Marine install Wello Penguin at EMEC wave test site at Billia Croo (Credit Colin Keldie, courtesy of CEFOW)

Wello Oy

Founded in 2008, Wello Oy is a Finnish company dedicated to the development of wave energy converters (WECs). Having worked on a number of wave energy concepts since 1976, the unique Penguin model was selected in 2008 for further progression. A number of scale models of the Penguin have been built and tested in laboratory and at sea, throughout which time the prototype devices gradually increased in size.

The Penguin captures rotational energy generated by the movement of its asymmetrically shaped hull, which rolls, heaves and pitches with each passing wave. This motion is used to accelerate and maintain the revolutions of a spinning flywheel housed inside the hull, which in turn drives an electric generator to produce electricity that is then exported via a subsea cable.

The 1600-tonne 500 kW Penguin device first arrived in Orkney in June 2011 and was first deployed at the Billia Croo wave test site in Summer 2012. It was around 30 meters long, nine metres in height and had a draft of around seven meters. Only two meters were visible above the water surface.

It was tested until 2015 , however returned to Orkney and was reinstalled at Billia Croo in March 2017. The Penguin remained on site for over two years, surviving numerous storms including wave heights of up to 18.7 m experienced during storm Caroline. In March 2019, the Wello Penguin experienced issues offshore and unfortunately sank. Wello are investigating options to get it recovered.

Wello’s second Penguin WEC arrived in Orkney in July 2019, however was subsequently towed to Spain. The decision to test in Spain followed an attractive investment deal.