Seabased is a developer of

wave power Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful mechanical work, work – for example, electricity generation, desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power (physics), power is a wave energy converter (WEC). W ...

technology, originally based in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and now headquartered in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Multiple devices have been tested in Sweden and Norway, and a wave farm is being constructed in Ghana, although this project has experienced delays. The company has announced ambitious plans for many projects, although few of these have yet come to fruition. Seabased is working with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

on developing a regulatory framework for deploying wave energy in

Small Island Developing States The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a grouping of developing country, developing countries which are small island country, island countries and small states that tend to share similar sustainable development challenges. These include s ...

, including

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

, to help them transition away from fossil fuel power.

Device concept

The device concept has a buoy floating on the surface, which is tethered via a steel cable to a seabed-mounted device containing a

three-phase Three-phase electric power (abbreviated 3ϕ) is a common type of alternating current (AC) used in electricity generation, Electric power transmission, transmission, and Electric power distribution, distribution. It is a type of polyphase system ...

direct-drive (i.e without gearbox) linear generator. It is classified as an offshore point-absorber type wave energy converter (WEC), and it works primarily in heave (up-and-down motion). Key properties of the deployed WECs and their generators are given below, with rated power at a stroke speed of .

History

The WEC concept was originally developed at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

, it was originally commercialised by the Swedish spin-out company Seabased Industry AB (SIAB). Seabased demonstrated the technology at several locations between 2006 and 2016. Early tests were conducted at the Islandsberg Test Site at

Lysekil Lysekil () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Lysekil Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had about 7,600 inhabitants in 2018. Situated on the south tip of Stångenäs peninsula at the mouth of Gullmarn fjord, it ...

on the west coast of Sweden, about north of

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. The water depth at the site is about , located at . A total of 12 WECs were tested between March 2006 and August 2009.

Runde, Norway

In September 2009, two Seabased WECs and an underwater substation were installed off the coast of

Runde Runde is an island in Herøy Municipality (Møre og Romsdal), Herøy Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The island has a population of 113 people (as of 2015), and it is connected by the Runde Bridge to the island of Remøya to th ...

, Norway, at the MAREN test site of the

Runde Environmental Centre Runde Environmental Centre () is a research station at the Norwegian island of Runde. The centre has four main activities: a marine station, a house and hub for small spin-off businesses, an information centre, and a conference/overnight centre w ...

. The project was in partnership with

Vattenfall Vattenfall is a Swedish multinational corporation, multinational electrical power industry, power company owned by the List of government enterprises of Sweden, Swedish state. Beyond Sweden, the company generates power in Denmark, Finland, Germa ...

, and was connected to the local 22 kV electricity grid. The devices were located about to the west of the island of Runde, in water depths of at . There were technical problems with the devices, and they were removed in 2013.

Sotenäs, Sweden

An array of 36 Seabased WECs totalling 1 MW and a subsea substation was installed off the coast of

Kungshamn Kungshamn (''King's Landing'') is a locality and the seat of Sotenäs Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 3071 citizens (in 2011).

, Sotenäs in June 2014, at about 50 m water depth. The devices were connected to the Swedish electricity grid in 2015, via a subsea cable. The project was started in November 2011 and there were plans to deploy a further 9 MW at the site, however the project ended by 2018 as funding ran out. The generators are still in-situ as an artificial reef.

Ada Foah Energy Project, Ghana

Seabased and TC's Energy are developing a wave farm in the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea (French language, French: ''Golfe de Guinée''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Golfo de Guinea''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Golfo da Guiné'') is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez i ...

, about off the coast of

Ada Foah Ada Foah is a town on the southeast coast of Ghana, where the Volta River meets the Atlantic Ocean. The town is located along the Volta River, off of the Accra- Aflao motorway. Known for palm-lined beaches and estuary islands, Ada Foah is also t ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. In 2014, a power purchase agreement was signed to provide 1,000 MW of electricity to the Electricity Company of Ghana. The first phase of the project was in installed in 2015 with the onshore switchgear connecting the first phase of wave energy converters to the local grid. In March 2018, a power purchase agreement was signed with TC's Energy for a 100 MW project. However, the project stalled. In 2020, plans were announced to revive the project, with finance from Power China covering 85% of the project cost, the remaining 15% bourne by TC's Energy Ghana.

Future plans

Various announcements have been made by Seabased to develop wave farms (or wave parks) in various locations around the world. In 2018, CEO Oivind Magnussen acknowledged in an interview with

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

that this could be "difficult". * In June 2024, Seabased announced a memorandum of understanding with the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation, to develop a pilot wave farm in

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

. The initial plans are for 2 MW, and used to support the production of

green hydrogen Green hydrogen (GH2 or GH2) is hydrogen produced by the electrolysis of water, using renewable electricity. Production of green hydrogen causes significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than production of grey hydrogen, which is derived fr ...

, however this could be expanded to 10 MW or more in future. * In 2023, plans to develop a 40 MW wave park in

progressed with the introduction of a "regulatory sandbox" making it easier to install innovative technologies. The project has been mooted since 2018. * In May 2018, a 5 MW pilot park in

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...

was announced, to provide electricity for

desalination Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...

.{{Cite web , last= , date=2018-05-10 , title=Seabased wave energy technology to be installed in Canary Islands , url=https://www.hydroreview.com/world-regions/europe/seabased-wave-energy-technology-to-be-installed-in-canary-islands/ , access-date=2024-09-08 , website=Hydro Review , language=en-US * Also in 2018, Seabased started developing plans to install a 10 MW wave park in

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

. * In 2015, Seabased had signed a memorandum of understanding to develop wave energy in

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago, made up of 200 islands, in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a mari ...

, India.

References

Wave energy converters Wave farms in Sweden