---
title: Submerged Wave Energy Conversion (CETO)
type: technology
url: "https://www.envisioning.com/research/grid/australia-nz__submerged-wave-energy-conversion"
hub: grid
summary: "Carnegie Clean Energy's CETO converts ocean swells into electricity via fully submerged buoys — a 400kW unit is being tested off Spain in 2025, backed by EU and Australian funding."
---

# Submerged Wave Energy Conversion (CETO)

Carnegie Clean Energy's CETO converts ocean swells into electricity via fully submerged buoys — a 400kW unit is being tested off Spain in 2025, backed by EU and Australian funding.
- Technology Readiness Level: 5/9
- Impact: 3/5
- Investment: 3/5
Carnegie Clean Energy has developed the CETO wave energy converter — a fully submerged buoy system that captures energy from ocean wave motion and converts it to electricity via subsea power generation. Unlike surface-based wave energy devices, CETO operates below the wave break zone, making it invisible from shore, resistant to storm damage, and safe for marine users. In March 2025, Carnegie received milestone funding through the EU's ACHIVE project to build and test a 400kW CETO device off Spain's Atlantic coast.

Australia's Southern Ocean coastline receives some of the world's most consistent wave energy — estimated at 1,800 TWh per year of technically recoverable resource. Wave energy is complementary to solar (waves continue overnight and during winter storms when solar output drops), making it a natural fit for Australia's renewable energy mix. The Blue Economy CRC's M4 Wave Energy Demonstrator was deployed in King George Sound, Albany, over the 2024-25 summer, advancing the sector's readiness.

Wave energy remains the least developed major renewable energy source globally, primarily due to the engineering challenge of building equipment that survives decades in corrosive, high-energy marine environments. CETO's fully submerged approach addresses the survivability problem that destroyed many earlier wave energy concepts. If commercialized, the technology is highly exportable to wave-rich coastlines worldwide — Chile, Portugal, Ireland, Japan — and could provide firm renewable electricity for remote island communities and offshore aquaculture operations.

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Source: Envisioning — Technology Research Institute (https://www.envisioning.com/research/grid/australia-nz__submerged-wave-energy-conversion)