It’s quite simple really. Artificial wave technology produces surf-able waves by displacing water in precise, repeatable patterns. The motor producing the waves sits in or adjacent a contained pool designed with bathymetry, outline and size to maximize the work done by the machine. Easy!
These wave engines differ between manufacturers, but all use some incarnation of plows, paddles, levers, plungers, or hydraulic chambers to move water in measured sequences. Controlled by specialized software, wave systems create surf in set heights, shapes, and velocity. Almost anything is possible, from gentle rollers for beginners to fast, hollow waves for advanced surfers.
And the inventiveness and variety of wave pool technologies is astounding. In this WavePoolMag report, updated for 2025, we profile more than 20 companies developing wave-making technology, detailing their engineering approaches, operating principles, and innovations that are shaping the future of artificial surfing environments. Along with the leaders in this space, we’ve even included a few that went bust, a few that never materialized and some others just waiting for a fresh injection of cash. For your curiosity and stoke, here is the WavePoolMag wave technology guide.
Operating/Functional
Endless Surf
Wavegarden Cove
Kelly Slater Wave Co.
Surf Loch Pools
PerfectSwell
SwellMFG
AllWaves
Surf Lakes
Barr + Wray
Murphys
SurfCenter Brazil
WaveSource
In Development/Concept
Premier Surf
La Ola Group
SwellSpot
Olas Tech
WaveSEG
Surfwrld
WavePrizm
Okahina Wave
Surf Park Resort
Webber Wave Pools
Infinity Wave Co.
El MezQuital Surf
Defunct
Surf Poel
Xing Feng
Wavegarden Plow
Big Surf Arizona
Ocean Dome
STATUS: Operational in surf parks around the world
WAVES: A-Frame, single peak and pointbreak setting
LOCATIONS: Munich, Saudi Arabia and coming to Mexico, Florida, Australia, Brazil, California and elsewhere
Endless Surf is one of the leading pneumatic wave systems currently on the market. It creates surf by pushing air through caissons, also called pneumatic chambers, in sequence. This controlled release of air that in turn pushes water, produces a variety of wave shapes and sizes.
The number of caissons installed at the deep end of its heart-shaped lagoon determines the system’s scale. For example, the Endless Surf 34 model uses 34 caissons, while the larger ES48 includes 48 chambers and spans 282 meters by 84.5 meters.
Wave heights generally range from 3 to 6 feet. However, the system can generate waves up to 7 feet. The ride length varies by pool size. Smaller setups can yield 30 to 60 meter rides, while maximum configurations stretch up to 200 meters.
Using its single-peak setting, the system supports rides as long as 32 seconds. In terms of wave volume, the setup can produce 400 and 700 waves per hour.
Endless Surf highlights its ability to go beyond a basic on/off wave-generation model. The system can adjust output dynamically, which helps conserve energy when fewer surfers are in the water. Operators can also modify wave settings in real time to match individual skill levels, preferences, and changing weather conditions.
The company has also introduced its Surf Concierge platform. This system manages session bookings, memberships, and in-park amenities. It integrates with Endless Surf’s Wave Doctor interface, which oversees machine diagnostics, and Swell Studio software, which handles wave customization.
The WavePoolMag podcast spoke with Endless Surf CTO Clement Ginestet and Product Lead, Axel Terradillos about the Endless Surf wave pool technology.
STATUS: Currently operational at nearly a dozen surf parks around the world
WAVES: Lefts on one side of the diamond-shaped pool with rights on the other
LOCATIONS: Europe, Brazil, Asia, Australia, United States
Wavegarden developed the Cove system shortly after their groundbreaking Lagoon design. Where the Lagoon had limitations in wave count and variety, the Cove resolved these issues critical to a profitable surf park. The system is a diamond-shaped pool with a customizable pier or footbridge running through the center. The top end of the pier houses the machinery that pushes out waves through a series of levers encased in modules. The levers swing in one direction to push out a wave on one side of the pool, then carry that inertia back to the other side of the module, pushing out a wave on the other side of the pool – which makes for an energy-efficient system. As the wave refracts and moves along the wall it gets further enhancement from the other modules. In broad strokes, the number of modules determines wave length and power.
Wavegarden Module Count: The Wavegarden test facility in the Basque Country of Spain has 28 modules and provides a short right-hander, while The Wave in Bristol boasts 40 modules. Melbourne and Alaia Bay have 46 modules and Brazil’s Praia da Grama has 52. The super wave pool in South Korea at Wave Park has 56 modules. Beyond the Club in Saö Paulo has 62 modules.
Each additional module helps push and refine the wave according to the engineer or programmer’s desired end-product. Famous settings include the Beast tube riding specialty wave and the extremely popular Turns waves. The Cove produces surf in the 2-to-7 foot range as only rights on one side of the pier and only lefts on the other side. There is no peak setting with split rights and lefts.
One of the first to market, Wavegarden Cove systems are in place at some of the world’s most popular surf parks including Wave Park South Korea, The Wave in Bristol, Alaia Bay in Switzerland, Lost Shore in Scotland, URBNSURF Sydney & Melbourne, Tel Aviv, and Brazil.
STATUS: Churning out the gold standard for artificial waves
WAVES: Super long left or super long right. No split peaks or A-Frames
LOCATIONS: Lemoore, California and Abu Dhabi UAE. Coming to Austin, Texas
Kelly’s design is the most famous of the wave pools. The prototype transformed an abandoned waterski park in Lemoore California into the upscale Surf Ranch, the darling of the WSL and company team-building power perk for the Fortune 500 surf set. The system is a simple plow design, like Wavegarden’s Lagoon and Surf Poel in The Hague. But while those other systems are no longer in use, Kelly’s design continues to thrive, sprouting up in Abu Dhabi and soon in Austin, Texas.
How it works: A specially designed submerged foil is pulled down a straight track at high (or low) velocity, displacing water to create a wave that breaks along the wave pool’s specially designed bathymetry. Adjustments to the large, noisy machine temper the speed of the plow affecting the wave’s steepness and size. Unlike the Wavegarden Lagoon, Kelly’s wave plow only generates a rideable swell on one side of the track. But the system is bi-directional, going in one direction to create lefts and the other direction to create rights with a 3-4 minute lagtime between waves.
STATUS: Operational at a handful of public and private locations
WAVES: A-Frame center peak with options for dedicated left or right
LOCATIONS: Palm Springs and Rotterdam (Public)
Wave pool OG scientist Tom Lochtefeld finally saw his design come to light in 2020. After years of test tanks and sketches, the inventor of the FlowRider pumped out waves at an abandoned water park in the desert. Today, the wave pool technology can be found in Holland (he explained the system in a podcast) and at two undisclosed private venues.
SurfLoch’s technology uses pneumatic systems within big caissons (a watertight concrete or metal chamber) that push out air to displace water and create a wave. When wave programmers fire the chambers in a specific sequence, any number of wave types can be created. The pool at Palm Springs Surf Club has 12 of these chambers. A full-size SurfLoch design could count up to 24 chambers.
Wave sizes range from 2-to-6-feet with the ability to go bigger in the right setting. Waves can be created to break right, left or as a central peak producing both a right and a left. The length of the ride depends on the size of the pool and the number of swell-producing chambers. The Palm Springs test pool offered six-second rides but the new full-scale pool offers 12-second rides. The system is controlled by software designed by industry heavyweight Siemens. Surf Loch told WavePoolMag they currently has projects ongoing in Spain, Australia, The USA and elsewhere.
AMERICAN WAVE MACHINES/PERFECTSWELL
STATUS: Currently operational at a handful of surf parks around the world
WAVES: Most sessions are divided into two halves – 30 minutes for lefts and 30 minutes for rights
LOCATIONS: Japan, the USA and Brazil
PerfectSwell uses a pneumatic system similar to Endless Surf, SurfLoch and others. While there are nuances to the systems that come through in the patents and are obvious to engineers, it’s basically air pushed against water to create waves. The pneumatics are housed in chambers hidden in a central wall. Software controls the firing sequence of the chambers and the timing as well as the pressure of the air. The result is the creation of waves of many different types. At Waco Surf, Skudinsurf AD, Surf Stadium Japan, Boa Vista and Saö Paulo Surf Club, PerfectSwell creates both lefts and rights, but only one direction at a time. Their smaller system in New Jersey at the American Dream Mall offers a split peak wave.
Waco Surf in Texas as well as the Brazil wave tanks have become internet darlings thanks to the wide array of air waves the system can create. Famous branded waves include the Freak Peak, the Seabass Ramp and Mason Ho’s tube-to-air setting. Waves in Waco average 30-60 yards/meters, and tend to be semi-hollow to hollow and performance-oriented although short intermediate and beginner surf is available from the system as well. Rides at Waco Surf run about 10 seconds in duration with New Jersey clocking in at between 3-8 seconds depending on the setting. The design creates 120 -160 waves per hour which come in three-wave sets at between 1:10-1:30 apart. Waves created are roughly 2-to- 6-feet but can go bigger.
STATUS: Full operational wave pool
WAVES: 3-6ft+ A-Frame with intermediate and advanced waves including air and barrel sections, Long left and right only waves available in private sessions.
LOCATIONS: In use at Revel Surf, Cannon Beach Arizona. Planned for Cannon Beach Texas.
The SwellMFG wave maker is a mechanically driven device powered by hydraulics. Waves are produced with “wave-boards” that push out swells across a point break reef with rights and lefts occurring at the same time. Longer right and left only waves are also created offering further advanced surfing opportunity in private sessions. Each wave setting is tailored for varying skill levels providing waves for novice surfers learning to paddle into waves on to faster waves offering turns, barrels and wedges. Individual controls in velocity, timing and amplitude provide customization of wave shapes. The company says they can create everything from drawn out mellow turn waves to fast, hollow waves, including wedging barrels for the public sessions.
Public waves come in A-Frame form with surfers splitting the peak rather than a right-session-only or left-session-only option as found in many of today’s wave pools. Expansion to a larger sized facility is made possible with the addition of more modules like all caisson and lever-based systems (Cove, Endless Surf, Surf Loch, etc.) Wave size ranges from 3-to-6-feet with larger sets possible for private and advanced sessions. Swell MFG’s first full-size wave pool currently open to the public and is located at Revel Surf Park, which is located within the Cannon Beach AZ lifestyle destination venue in Mesa Arizona.
STATUS: Operational at private research and development facility
WAVES: A-Frame center peak and dedicated left and right at sides of pool
LOCATION: Knokke-Heist Belgium
AllWaves has developed a wave-generating system that relies on an underwater textile structure activated by external hydraulics. Known as the “wavemaker,” this mechanism pushes water toward reef structures installed on both sides of the pool. As a result, point break-style waves run the length of the pool in two directions.
Additionally, a second reef sits at the front of the main pool and creates a split peak. Each generated swell allows four surfers to ride at once—two along the lengthwise point breaks and two across the width on the A-frame.
To learn more about how the system works, listen to the WavePoolMag podcast with Steven Nauwelaerts. We also spoke at length with AllWaves’ marketing maven Marie-Laure Clement.
At the core of the system is a submerged, flexible textile membrane that resembles a water-filled cushion. It includes no grids, nets, or ropes. Instead, each membrane section moves independently to either pull or push water. This movement produces the surface swell.
The hydraulic machinery, located in a separate room outside the pool, powers the membrane system. According to AllWaves, only a few mechanical components lie beneath the membrane. Consequently, maintenance remains relatively straightforward.
Operators can fine-tune the waves by adjusting parameters such as the face, pocket, lip, and foam section through proprietary software. Furthermore, the system generates a wave every seven seconds. Over the course of an hour, this pace results in approximately 500 waves. Because each wave supports four surfers, the system can deliver up to 2,000 rides per hour.
STATUS: System proven with full-scale prototype
WAVES: 3-8ft+ split peaks offered simultaneously at four separate reefs
LOCATIONS: Yeppoon, Queensland prototype
Anyone who has tossed a rock into still water and watched the ripples fan out comprehends the Surf Lakes system. Mix in elementary bathymetry knowledge and each one of us believes we could design such a machine. But we can’t. It’s a bit more complicated than that. A pneumatic system pumps air to move a giant central plunger up and down at a specified height and speed. Adjustments to the height and velocity at which the plunger is dropped, affect the intensity and size of the waves. Once the central wave-making device falls in a pre-programmed manner, swells radiate out in 360-degrees. The swells interact with four different breaks to create a wide variety of surf across all skill levels. Surf Lakes can produce 2000 rides per hour at anywhere from 2-to-8 feet in height. Internet-famous breaks include The Island, Occy’s Peak, a Beachbreak and a beginner peak.
The breadth and scope of building one of these wave pools can be daunting, and Surf Lakes now offers two sizes for different development targets and budgets. Surf Lakes Standard has a smaller footprint and is designed for the beginner to intermediate markets. Surf Lakes XL is meant to be a premium surf destination or resort appealing to all skill levels. The prototype in Yeppoon Queensland will become a public-facing surf park once funding is secured.
STATUS: CFD and small scale design at this point
WAVES: 6-7ft+ pro wave with adjustable takeoff, turns and barrel sections, lefts and rights
LOCATIONS: Will debut in Shirley, New York at Crest Surf Clubs
Alex Poirot spent nearly a decade at KSWaveCo bringing that system online and fine-tuning it. He was responsible for hydrofoil and bathymetry design as well as introducing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to their efforts. His knowledge of fluid mechanics and the power of CFD basically helped launch the world’s most famous wave pool. Then, in 2017, he founded Premier Surf Systems.
Alex says that Premier uses a unique design and operational technique, which allows for larger waves with longer ride lengths in significantly smaller footprints. When we look at Kelly’s, we see a long track with a foil racing down a rectangular lake. However, Premier says their system is very different and offers long rides in a small footprint wave tank.
Alex adds that the goal was Kelly Slater Surf Ranch wave quality, but with many more waves.
“Our level of variability is ridiculous and in a whole new world, the list of new waves, lefts, and rights, never ends,” said Alex. “After the Surf Ranch and Abu Dhabi, I was and still am shooting for something that fully leverages the Science that has been overlooked for so long.”
He added that the system will offer a 6-7ft+ pro wave with adjustable takeoff, turns and barrel sections, as well as fun end-of-wave sections. “Our tech will create a new category of small footprint, high-quality, and highly customizable surf parks without sacrificing wave height or ride length.”
STATUS: No longer operating anywhere in the world
WAVES: Long-ish rights and lefts in pointbreak fashion
PAST LOCATIONS: The USA and the UK, plus the original prototype in the Basque Country of Spain
The first of the wave pool commercially made specifically for surfing, came online at Adventure Parc Snowdonia in Wales and NLand, Austin Texas. This is the beast that launched the whole revolution. Developed deep in the Basque Country of Spain, the world woke to the Lagoon in 2010 via low-res YouTube videos. With the prototype an hour drive from Hossegor, Wavegarden’s launch benefited greatly from traveling CT pros who made the small waves look doable. This first design, a plastic-lined pond about the size of your corner 7-Eleven, gave way to a revamped design in a larger pond. This larger model showed us the full potential and included a pier running down the center of the wave pool. The first full-scale Lagoon went up at Surf Snowdonia in 2015. Another one opened in Austin Texas shortly afterward.
The system worked like Kelly’s wave system and the now-defunct China wave pool. A submerged hydrodynamic wave foil (hull) powered by a gearless drive system ran down a central track that split a rectangular lagoon. The hull moved at a speed between 4.5m and 7.5m (14.7ft-24.6ft) per second and pushed out a large wake that broke along either side of a central pier creating a right and a left simultaneously. Speed of the foil determined the size of the wave generated. Once the swell was pushed out it interacted with the shallows of the lagoon bathymetry to form surf-able waves. A right and a left between 2-to- 6-feet high on the face were generated roughly every 90 seconds with rides up to 30 seconds long. Despite commercial viability obstacles including a low waves-per-hour count and the pool requiring a long, straight piece of land, the lagoon started the wave pool revolution we know and love today.
STATUS: In operation since 1989
WAVES: Wave heights range from 2-to-4-feet producing soft lefts and rights
LOCATIONS: Orlando, Florida
Barr+Wray worked in conjunction with Whitewater to produce the surf at Typhoon Lagoon (although Murphys Waves also claims credit for the Orlando pool). The system uses water to displace water – incredibly effective but not very precise – in the creation of waves. It’s a setup that works like the world’s first surf park, Big Surf in Arizona. Likened to a giant toilet because the water is dropped from elevated tanks into the pool to produce waves, the basic premise did kick off the wave pool revolution.
It turns out that the transatlantic pairing of Canada’s WhiteWater and Scotland’s Barr + Wray worked in the team’s favor. Barr + Wray being a Europe-based engineering company could not contract in the United States. WhiteWater, founded in 1980 and experienced in delivering large-scale projects, had the resources to do the electrical design and supply as well as the hydraulic systems.
“The water is suspended and hydraulically dumped, which actually replicates the way in which a Tsunami is created with either a displacement from subterranean land movement or displacement with a landslide,” says Derek Barton of Scotland’s Barr+Wray. “Thereby, lifting the water which makes it travel in the same direction as the movement/displacement.”
Of note, Whitewater West is now focused on the Endless Surf wave pool system which uses pneumatic powered caissons to generate surf-able waves.
STATUS: Operating test facility
WAVES: Wave heights range from 2-to-5-feet producing rights
LOCATIONS: Western Arizona, USA
A proof-of-concept wave pool that has garnered much media attention due to Ben Gravy’s involvement. The wave pool operates via a pneumatic system that generates waves with compressed air. This distinguishes the technology from electromechanical systems like Wavegarden Cove and SwellMFG that rely on motors to move levers. According to developers, the Wave Source technology involves off-the-shelf components similar to those used in industrial cooling systems. Waves are created by “dropping water technology,” which means that instead of pushing water up or out to create a wave, the floor system opens to create a hole in the mean water level. Through a controlled sequence, the water rushes in to fill the hole, which creates the wave. You can take a look at the patent here. The shape, size of the wave is determined by the size of the hole in the water and the velocity at which it is created. Wave Source is offering the test facility and ranch for sale. Or. You can purchase the tech and put it wherever you’d like it.
STATUS: Out of commission
WAVES: Short, foil-generated lefts and rights
LOCATIONS: The Hague, Holland
The Dutch indoor wave pool project SurfPoel sputtered to life in a warehouse outside of The Hague. Originally conceived of in 2018, the project was severely hampered by COVID and then rising construction costs. When construction finally was completed, the tech was obsolete.
The design was a hull and foil type of wave generator created by Australian Steven Schmied. For 10 years Schmied developed a system which could be adjusted to produce a variety of waves. The pool itself was 72m long (230 feet) and 18m (60 feet) in width with a max depth of 2,5m (8 feet). The building housing the pool is a massive 2400 square meters (7,800 square feet) and used shipping containers and a timber beach to construct surrounding amenities.
A good chunk of SurfPoel and the 24/7 wave technology was backed by small investment crowdfunders. The Hague has a core surf scene west of the city on the shores of the North Sea with most of the focus in Scheveningen. Investors included locals and a few global wave pool enthusiasts, like self-professed Surf Nerd Mike Goldys.
It is not known if inventor Steven Schmied is continuing his pursuit of this, or other wave-generating designs.
STATUS: Dead
WAVES: Wave heights ranged from 2-to-4-feet produced soft lefts and rights
LOCATIONS: None yet
Built in 2019 and modeled heavily after Kelly’s wave and early Wavegarden plow designs, the artificial wave technology at the Xing Feng Extreme center featured a giant foil which ran down a track to produce waves on the right and left sides of a central pier. The Chinese Government backed the design to train athletes for the Olympics. The rectangular pool was 700-meters long with a width of 150 meters.
The central machine’s velocity and foil could be adjusted to vary wave size and type. Wave frequency was low, even by plow standards with a right and a left generated once each six minutes. This is most likely due to water needing to settle between waves. Surf height was in the 2-to-4-foot range with soft-breaking waves. Some reports stated that the wave was hollow at the beginning and at the ending of the plow’s run.
It’s unkown if the site will be improved upon or abandoned. Kelly’s wave in Lemoore took years of tweaking bathymetry, plow speed, lining and much more (often at great expense) to become the performance gold standard that it is today. We don’t know if the backers at this wave pool are willing to re-invest to improve the product.
STATUS: Not Built
WAVES: Lefts or rights along an oval-shaped track
LOCATIONS: Inside Greg Webber’s neural circuitry for the past two decades
Greg Webber’s fertile mind has been spitting out wave pool and artificial reef concepts for decades. His latest is a system on a looped steel rail track fitted with wheeled carriages. “Like a carriage on an urban monorail system,” he says. Wave-making hulls are attached to the wheeled carriages which are driven by electric motors. All of it controlled by hydraulic actuators – those piston-looking things mounted on heavy equipment scoops and blades. The controlling of the carriages helps adjust the wave height, angle, etc.
The Webber Wave Pool system employs two types of water displacement: one for generating waves and another for managing currents. Waves are produced by a looped steel rail system that supports wheeled carriages suspended beneath the track, similar to a monorail. These carriages, driven by electric motors and rubber tires, operate quietly and are fitted with hydraulic actuators that control the movement of attached hulls. Software regulates speed, draft, and hull angle, enabling real-time adjustments to wave size and shape.
To address turbulence and water movement between wave sets, the system includes a current control mechanism. This feature minimizes unwanted currents, allowing for a higher wave rate, and can also produce controlled water flow to enhance wave formation and break dynamics.
Greg says the wave pool will produce a 25-second ride with waves in the 5-to-6-foot range with the capability to go up to 7-to-8-feet and producing 120-180 waves per hour. After nearly 20 years of hearing about Webber Wave Pools, Coral Springs Florida was on the map as the first place to develop Webber’s system. However, we’ve not heard much about the development or from Greg lately.
STATUS: Currently a scaled-down prototype but plans are to build one near Buenos Aires
WAVES: Split peak or lefts and rights pointbreak style
LOCATION: Buenos Aires
La Ola Group is an Argentinian company, formerly part of WaveSEG (WAVESEG has since become its own thing as well), with a fully-funded research warehouse developing the latest pneumatic approach to wave-making. The system is an air-compression-setup much like PerfectSwell, Endless Surf and Surf Loch, all of whom use a technique pushing out air from caissons to displace water and create waves.
This system, at least the test models, looks very different because the air cannons are laid out horizontally rather than as vertical concrete chambers at the end of a pool. The company built a small four-cannon model prototype recently to test the theory. This was followed by a full-size air cannon to test the machinery at scale, and now there is a four-cannon full-scale model in the works. A 32-cannon small-scale model is also being developed in the laboratory to assess multi-cannon interaction as well as some other factors.
La Ola Group adds that their design focuses on energy recuperation via a water return system and said they can recycle that initial energy into the production of the next wave. By varying the quantity or size of its modules, different products are obtained, resulting in different required investments, achieving a unique adaptability capacity in the market. They added that wave size, duration, frequency are all determined by the number and placement of compressors below the surface. The system uses pre-existing industry standard inputs, so that the basic working pieces are readily available on the market. The machine is free of moving parts.
STATUS: Full-size prototype at undisclosed location
WAVES: Wave heights range from 2-to-6-feet with turns and barrel sections, lefts and rights
LOCATIONS: None yet
SwellSpot is two components, an engine and a pool. First the engine: Clusters of modules along a wall contain hydraulic plungers that fire in software-controlled sequence to push out swell across a body of water (video below shows how they work). Plunger stroke height and velocity are adjustable to control the speed and size of the traveling swell. The second component is the bathymetry that determines how the generated swell will break. SwellSpot says pools can be built in any size or shape and create surf-able waves via reefs, points and bays.
The system can work continuously producing waves every 10-15 seconds and operation is easily adjusted for peak and low-frequency use. Wave heights range from 2-to-6-feet but can go bigger with more energy use and a larger pool setting. The system will produce around 360 swells per hour with waves breaking across several different reefs offering a higher surf-able wave count per hour, meaning the same swell is ridden multiple times at different parts of the pool. Plans for a 2.2-acre SwellSpot wave pool list waves breaking for a distance of 75 yards. Developers said the hydraulically powered surf lake will support up to 40 surfers each hour.
In 2025 SwellSpot and SurfX have announced a joint partnership to build new inland surf parks in the United Kingdom and the United States.
STATUS: Completed design waiting for funding
WAVES: Rights, lefts and an A-Frame
LOCATION: Quito, Ecuador
Olas uses a stacking module system similar to Cove wave-generation with differences on the patent-level of things. Powered by what they call their Wave-Master system, it has no compressed-air, hydraulics or pneumatics. The first waves for this system began in 2009 when a British physicist named John Baxendale unveiled his new wave-making system through a “Search for the Perfect Wave” video series. Baxendale experimented as time allowed and in 2014 patented the system. Then in 2018 South American surfer/entrepreneur, Diego Andres Cornejo Rodriquez purchased the intellectual property to create the Olas company.
Olas Surfing Technology is built on three surf pool designs—Surfstation, Butterfly, and Surfers Paradise—built on a modular wave pool system the company says can be adapted to market size, budget, and surfer demographics.
The Surfstation model is positioned as an entry-to-intermediate wave pool, typically offering 1.8-meter waves, with a 1.2-meter option available for lower-cost installations. “A Surfstation can start with fewer modules — producing shorter riding times — and expand later to increase ride length as demand grows,” the company stated.
The Butterfly model features a split-peak layout that supports 1.2- or 1.8-meter waves and is designed to increase surfer capacity per session. Surfers Paradise, still under development, is aimed at high-end venues and may produce waves up to 2.1 meters with ride times up to 45 seconds. “Some sessions [are] selling for up to USD 1,600 per hour for just 12 perfect waves,” the company noted.
Olas claims its system offers higher throughput than other modular surf pools and that its larger modules allow up to 29% more ride time.
STATUS: Completed test-tank, now waiting for funding
WAVES: Rights, lefts and an A-Frame
LOCATION: Brazil
A green hydrogen wave pool? According to WAVESEG, their wave system uses modular construction and functions autonomously, allowing for deployment across various locations such as public facilities, resorts, residential communities, and remote areas.
Wave heights range from 0.5 to 2 meters. The design includes impact-reducing soft walls and flooring, as well as thermally regulated water, treated through a natural filtration process. WAVESEG states that the system aims to balance performance with user safety and resource efficiency.
Wave characteristics can be adjusted to suit different skill levels through customizable settings for frequency, shape, and intensity.
In 2025 the company said their product is powered by Green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water to remove the hydrogen molecule while only using renewable energy like wind or solar. Unlike grey or brown hydrogen, the process emits no carbon during production. Company representatives say that the technology can run off-grid, and requires limited operational input.
STATUS: Received all approvals, ready to break ground
WAVES: Split peak or lefts and rights point break style
LOCATION: Werne, Germany
This is a double wave pool facility in Germany and will be constructed on the site of an abandoned coal mine. The Surfwrld facility along with two German universities (RWTH Aachen and TH Cologne) will use the surf tanks for hydraulic and civil research purposes in the off-season. The team behind the project includes experienced developers, hydraulic engineers, finance and marketing experts working under the management of Dr. Michael Detering.
Waves are generated using compressed air. Surfwrld didn’t specify whether that is with an air cannon type system like Argentina’s La Ola Group or through pneumatics. All technical details remain confidential at this time but renderings show wave pool that closely resembles and Endless Surf system like the wave pool in Munich.
Surfwrld says they are able to create waves of over three metres high and wave fronts stretching up to 150 metres wide, all within their 242-metre-long main basin. The second pool will be slightly smaller. The company says that benefits of having two separate pools is increased capacity and the ability to run advanced surfing and beginning surfing at the same time on site.
“Pool two is being developed a bit later,” Surfwrld told WavePoolMag. “We have the chance to make sure it reflects the latest innovations in wave tech and design. You could say we’re building for the future – starting with Pool One, and then moving on to Pool Two with everything we’ve learned and everything that’s emerging in the space.”
After securing the site of the former Zeche Werne in December 2024, construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2025. If everything goes to plan, the research facility will begin operations in early 2027, with the first surf season set to launch in spring 2027.
STATUS: Unknown
WAVES: Simultaneous lefts and rights
LOCATION: Saö Paulo Brazil
SurfPark Resort (Alfatech) is a 10-year-old project aimed at developeing wave pools for surfing. The company was created in 2015 and is now headed by Fabio Ferraz who says their focus is “to bring the Brazilian beach vibe to the world through wave pools.” The company stated they have partnered with Bex Global to bring their technology to a worldwide market. For whatever reason, SurfPark Resort is the most secretive of all the technologies we’ve listed, only going as far as to say their system creates simultaneous left and right waves for the same group of surfers during each session and produces waves up to 1.5 meters in height.
The first Surfpark Resort was supposed to open in 2021 in São Paulo, Brazil. That hasn’t happened. The company also says they provide mobile venues (again without specifics). Like many technologies without a working prototype, like Webber and WavePrizm, developers could just be waiting for a cash infusion to see their design come to life. Other possibilities include giving up the ghost on the concept. However, we never know if this is the case as companies rarely, if ever, issue statements saying they’ve stopped concept development.
STATUS: CFD and animation at this point
WAVES: 6-7ft+ pro wave with adjustable takeoff, turns and barrel sections, lefts and rights
LOCATIONS: None. Without funding and full prototype development, it’s still only a concept
WavePrizm says their wall-piston modular wave machines can produce the world’s most powerful artificially generated waves. The engineers also boast more than 800 waves per hour using 80% less energy than other systems on the market. The company creates surf through modules, and in a wave technology first, also offers something they call “full tide range capability.” How it works is a bit opaque. Press materials state that the WavePrizm uses diagonal displacement modules with individual water displacement devices (levers or pistons, we aren’t sure) which can be arranged to fit the size and scale of the project.
Swells are produced by firing the mystery modules in sequence. The waves then travel out across the pool, breaking across customized reef bathymetries. The company says they produce a wide variety of waves as well, from easy rollers to standup barrels. Given that the wave pool world seems to have the bulk of its technology-based in pneumatics with only Wavegarden, SwellMFG and a few others lever-based, it’s fascinating to see another addition to lever-powered pools. The company is still in the design and digital assets promotion phase and we’ve yet to see a test tank.
STATUS: After years of promotion, unknown
WAVES: One of the few wave pool designs chasing the circular wave pool dream
LOCATION: Southwest France
This system is not a wave pool, but a floating wave atoll deployed in lakes, bays and any calm body of water. Based on a spinning motor that directs waves outward along a spiral reef foundation, waves wrap along the spiral for 30-second rides. Max setting produces waves of 6-feet-high and a pier allows spectators to get close to the action. The system generates one wave every 15 seconds. The design was tested on a scale model in the Aquitaine region of Southwest France at a secret location.
Originally set to open its first location near Futuroscope in 2020, with others to follow shortly at other locations in France, we’ve yet to see an Okahina wave pool. In 2024 the company reached out to French news agencies with a story about the bureaucratic run-around delaying things. Quite a plausible excuse in the labyrinths of French government. To date, several years after their launch, there are no Okahina wave pools in France or elsewhere.
Developers say that once deployed the new aquatic reef anchoring the system will attract sea life including mollusks, fish and anything else that feeds on smaller prey that hangs out on reefs. Although the company insists that while it encourages aquatic diversity, it will also provide a natural barrier to jellyfish and sharks. The wave action has the added bonus of oxygenating stagnant bodies of water.
STATUS: Operational at a handful of public locations
WAVES: A-Frame center peak with options for dedicated left or right
LOCATIONS: Most well-known is Siam Park in the Canary Islands
Murphys (no apostrophe) system works in the classic pump-and-dump fashion. Water fills tanks in the deep end of the pool it is then released in sequence to create the desired wave shape and size. That wave then moves out from the narrow end of the pool into a wide bay, expanding and weakening as it travels. Murphys Waves system typically creates lefts, rights and split peaks in the 2-to-6-foot range. Murphys stated in an email that “Siam Park, which opened almost 15 years ago, is well noted for achieving wave heights at 3.3m (11 feet).” WavePoolMag demanded proof, but photos sent to our office did not support this claim.
While the wave quality isn’t the same as the newer techs, the company has hinted that there is something on the horizon designed for entry into the surf pool market. Murphys says their new Turtle Back wave pool generates two large waves simultaneously from a central platform in an oval-shaped pool. The design will be implemented at several new water parks in China according to company materials. Siam Park in the Canary Islands is powered by Murphys Waves and has starred in several surf videos including Lost Atlas by Kai Neville.
STATUS: Opened in 2025
WAVES: Rights across a triangle-shaped indoor pool
LOCATION: SurfCenter gym, club in Saö Paulo
The indoor wave technology behind the SurfCenter development in Brazil, generates a one-meter-high right that travels 40 meters over 8 to 12 seconds. The pool operates with just two million liters of water, a relatively small volume compared to some other technologies. The system produces 240 waves per hour, or four per minute, with a one-minute pause between sets. While the exact mechanism remains undisclosed, the design uses a combination of chamber placement and bottom contouring to help the wave retain its size throughout the ride. It is unique, as video shows the wave traveling sideways across the pool rather than moving in the opposite direction of the chambers. According to developers, the wave loses no more than 20 to 30 percent of its height across the 40-meter run.
STATUS: Concept
WAVES: Rights or lefts either side of a central pier like Wavegarden Cove
LOCATION: Saö Paulo design concept
The wave pool system utilizes a movable floor mechanism and regenerative energy system developed in collaboration with researchers at the University of São Paulo. Its variable-depth bottom, known as the Dynamic Reef, allows real-time adjustments to the slope and depth of the pool floor, which directly influences the shape and intensity of the waves. This configuration supports a range of wave types from gentle rollers to steep barrels. Developers claim boldly that the system can generate up to 1,200 waves per hour, with 600 of those classified as high-performance waves reaching up to 2.4 meters. It operates with minimal pause between waves and can accommodate various user skill levels. The pool spans 20,000 square meters with a maximum depth of 3 meters. Construction includes a cement base topped with a textured polymer surface, and the facility incorporates automated monitoring and remote control for safety and operations.
STATUS: Sketches and a small model
WAVES: Unknown, waves fan out across move-able reefs
LOCATION: Scorpion Bay, Baja Surf, Mexico
Brainchild of Neil Graham is a development 9 miles from the famed Scorpion Bay pointbreak in Southern Baja. The real estate/surf park development will feature a few modest homes surrounding a wave technology invented by Graham. The waves are generated by a submerged wedge that is pulled along a semi-circle track to push waves into a lagoon. It is powered by the same e-axle technology that the trucking industry uses to aide freight trailers. The reef system is designed to create multiple breaks from a single wave pulse. One wave could break for advanced surfers initially, then reform into a wave suitable for intermediate riders, and finally break again for beginners. The ride length is expected to be approximately 600 feet, providing up to 20 seconds of wave time per ride.
OCEAN DOME, JAPAN
STATUS: Closed (operational 1993–2007)
WAVES: Pneumatic push generating soft beach-style peaks
LOCATION: Miyazaki, Japan
Ocean Dome was one of the earliest large-scale indoor surf pools. Part of the Seagaia Resort in Miyazaki, the facility used a pneumatic wave system to produce surfable waves inside a retractable-roof stadium. At its peak, it welcomed millions of visitors annually and offered a controlled “beach” experience with sand, palm trees, and consistent waves. Ocean Dome closed in 2007 due to high operational costs and declining attendance, but it remains a landmark in wave pool history for both the quality of surf and for having the world’s largest indoor beach.
BIG SURF, ARIZONA
STATUS: Closed (operational 1969–2021)
WAVES: Early pump-n-dump surf system, producing rolling peaks
LOCATION: Tempe, Arizona, USA
Big Surf, opened in 1969, was the first commercial surf pool in the world. It featured a pump-n-dump wave-making machine designed by Phil Dexter that pushed water into a large pool to generate surfable waves. At the time, the system was revolutionary, giving surfers their first taste of riding man-made waves.
Wave heights reached up to 3 feet, with ride lengths of 20–40 meters in the whitewash. Big Surf became a cultural touchpoint—hosting surf contests, concerts, and community events. The pool operated for over 50 years before permanently closing in 2021, cementing its legacy as the birthplace of surf park culture.
