Europe’s Next Wave: Carnegie’s CETO Tech Heads to Basque Country

A €137K Boost and Sea Trials for the Submerged Energy Disruptor

Carnegie Clean Energy’s CETO wave energy converter is riding a new wave of momentum. The company’s Irish subsidiary, CETO Wave Energy Ireland, just secured €137,152 under the EuropeWave Phase 3 contract—part of the broader ACHIEVE program. This isn’t just another grant; it’s a critical step toward proving that ocean energy can compete with wind and solar. And the Basque Country is about to become the testing ground.

“This isn’t theoretical anymore. We’re moving from lab validation to real-world impact,” says a Carnegie engineer involved in the electrical and control system testing.

Those tests, completed at SEI’s Basque facilities, confirmed the CETO system’s integration and functionality—a green light for Europe’s first deployment at the BiMEP open-sea test site. But the real work starts now. Upcoming ACHIEVE tasks read like a wave energy checklist: procurement, manufacturing inspections, factory acceptance testing, and deploying a wave measurement buoy at BiMEP to fine-tune the system’s performance.

Local Partners, Global Ambitions

Carnegie isn’t going it alone. The project leans on local Basque suppliers and SKF, which is handling power take-off testing. Meanwhile, BiMEP’s team is prepping the site for installation, a process solidified by a contract signed in early April. The goal? To validate CETO’s unique approach: a submerged buoy tethered to seabed pumps that convert wave motion into electricity—no unsightly surface floats, just steady power beneath the waves.

“EuropeWave’s nearly €20 million pool, with backing from Wave Energy Scotland and Ente Vasco de la Energía, isn’t just funding tech—it’s betting on oceans as the next renewables frontier,” notes an industry analyst.

For Carnegie, the Basque trials are a make-or-break moment. Success here could position CETO as a leader in a sector that’s struggled to scale. And with EuropeWave’s muscle behind it, this project might finally turn wave energy’s perpetual “potential” into palpable progress.