The company was founded by Lundbäck and Möller in 2012, with funding from the European
EIT InnoEnergy accelerator program. They are following a five-stage development plan, scaling up to commercial devices. Stages 1 and 2 comprised 1:30 and 1:16 scale model testing in 2012 and 2013-14, plus dry rig testing of a 1:3 scale power take off. Stage 3 involved 1:2 scale sea tests at EMEC in 2018. Stages 4 and 5 will be conducted in Portugal as part of the HiWave-5 project, this aims to prove the survivability, performance, and economics of an array of grid connected devices, with
DNV providing
type certification. • Stage 4 involves demonstration and verification of a single C4 WEC, which will increase the
technology readiness level from TRL6 to TRL7. • Stage 5 will then involve demonstration and type certification of the pilot array, which is planned to additionally include three C5 WECs, and raise the TRL to 8. The timescales for these were initially 2019 to 2022, and 2022 to 2024 respectively, This was supplemented in February 2025 by funding of up to €17.5 million from the
European Innovation Council EIC Accelerator, comprising a €2.5m grant combined with €15m pre-commitment in equity investment, resulting from the "Renewable energy sources and their whole value chain" challenge.
Initial development Initial testing of the WaveSpring technology was conducted in November 2014 at
Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France, in the Hydrodynamic and Ocean Engineering Tank. The device was rated at 25 kW, was 4.3 m in diameter, and 10 m tall. This is at the
Aguçadoura test site previously used by
Pelamis Wave Power for the
Aguçadoura Wave Farm. A new 6.2 km long subsea cable was installed in 2022 by
Maersk Supply Service, to provide communications and transmit power from an array of four devices back to shore. The C4 device was deployed at Aguçadora in Portugal in September 2023. It was launched at the port of
Viana do Castello, and towed to the site, 4 km offshore. It was connected to the seabed by a bespoke "UMACK" anchoring system, and connected to the Portuguese electricity grid by a subsea cable. Following a seven week commissioning period, the device started exporting power to the grid in October 2023. In this first phase of testing, peak power output of up to 600 kW was recorded, and upgrades in planned onshore servicing after this may increase this to 850 kW. It is planned to conduct a Power Performance Assessment phase in line with the
IEC Technical Specification 62600-100. In February 2024, it was announced the device had survived 18.5 m high waves during Storm Domingos in November 2023. It was originally planned to manufacture these devices between 2022 and 2024, although like many other things, this timeline was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. == Future plans ==