Finnish company Wello has signed a memorandum of understanding with National Taiwan Ocean University’s Centre for Ocean Energy Systems (NTOU) for the exploration and deployment of its wave energy devices offshore Taiwan.
On May 30, 2022, the representatives from Wello and NTOU met in Keelung City to sign a document outlining the plans to deploy Wello’s wave energy converter, known as the Penguin, off the coast of Taiwan.
In attendance of the signing ceremony were also the Ministry or Foreign Affairs, The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the Keelung City Government, and representatives from Finland Trade Centre in Taiwan.
The speeches given by all parties echoed the message for the need to increase renewable energy generation within Taiwan to reach their 2030 renewable energy goals .
“Wello is very excited about moving forward with this project and beginning a strong cooperation with Taiwan, with the aim of multiple wave energy projects in the near future,” the company said in a statement.
Inspired by the natural movement of waves, the shape and power take of principle of the Penguin is rotation. The 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 around a central point, transferring and capturing the energy from the incoming waves.
To remind, Wello’s first commercially-ready Penguin device was deployed at the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) in the north of Spain in summer 2021.
Late in 2022, the 44-meter device with a 500kW generator, was retrieved ashore for inspections and repairs following the damage caused by unidentified floating object.
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