Arup collaborates with WaveX to advance wave energy technology

Under the agreements, Arup will support WaveX in the design of its D-Spar™ wave powered generator technology, a new type of self-reacting wave energy conversion system with no underwater moving parts, designed to harness the power of ocean waves and convert it into clean, renewable electricity.

The initial collaboration will focus on the D-Spar™ electrical design and power transfer unit integration in collaboration with Trident Energy technology. In parallel, a separate workstream will assess the potential incorporation of Arup’s proprietary shared mooring system design into the planned large-scale D-Spar™ project on the south coast of Western Australia (WA).

This collaboration marks a significant step toward advancing sustainable energy solutions by harnessing wave energy and cost effectively generating green electricity at scale from the world’s oceans.  Wave energy is one of the last renewable resources to be industrially commercialised despite being of sufficient magnitude to meet global power demand.

The agreement comes as WaveX firms plans to deploy its innovative D-Spar™ technology in WA later in 2025, which aims to showcase the combined strengths of both companies and leverage the new wave energy facility led by The University of Western Australia.  The pooled expertise across this project aims to finalise the viability of the D-Spar™ at large-scale and the potential to contribute to the 300GW global target for wave and tidal energy by 2050 set by the Ocean Energy Systems roadmap.

The D-Spar™ system is expected to play a key role in the energy transition by providing a sustainable and reliable source of power to fill-the-gaps when there is no wind or solar while mitigating the need for expensive grid-scale batteries.  The collaboration between WaveX and Arup is expected to pave the way for further developments in the field of marine renewable energy in Australia, the UK and more broadly across coastal communities world-wide where more than 3 billion people live within 100km of the coast.

Speaking about the agreement, Simon Renwick, CEO of WaveX, said: “This collaboration with Arup enables us to enhance our D-Spar™ system with Arup’s best-in-class electrical design and potential game changing shared mooring design, making the D-Spar™ a robust solution for large-scale global wave energy projects. We are excited to work with Arup as we push the boundaries of wave energy innovation with our revolutionary method of harnessing the power in the ocean’s waves.”

Damon Sunderland, Australasia Offshore Wind Lead of Arup, added: “Our collaboration with WaveX provides an opportunity to develop an innovative and cost-effective electrical topology that aligns with the WaveX vision for harnessing wave energy. We are also excited to work with WaveX to demonstrate our novel approach to shared mooring design, which provides performance advantages in shallow to very deep waters and is readily scalable to large arrays of floating energy devices. We think it offers a path to increase profitability for commercial-scale arrays by maximizing energy production density, reducing cost of components, and increasing survivability. We see great potential combined with the D-Spar™ and are excited to carry out this work with WaveX.”.