Ocean waves can provide 10% of the world’s energy needs. In theory.
Always available, more reliable than wind & solar + no carbon footprint.
Why hasn’t it taken off?
One good reason is that where you find waves is not where you find energy users.
Another is that nothing really works. Oceans are tough places to operate. There are no end of experiments that end up on the sea bed or many miles from their tether.
One device, however, is well beyond proof-of-concept. A full-scale wave energy generator has been supplying electricity to the grid for the past six years in Scotland’s unforgiving 12m waves. This is Wello’s Penguin. It works because there are no moving parts in contact with water.
It’s cheaper than off-shore wind but still located far from where most people need the energy.
This problem could be solved by a more exciting development: Wello’s Power Module. Virtually the same technology can be installed exactly where people can be found. In ships. These, strangely enough, also encounter waves. An added advantage is the fact that generating energy for onboard power also serves to stabilise the vessel. Waves rock the boat; damping the waves stabilises it — by taking the energy out of them.
Hybrid cruise liners exist because you can no longer enter Norway’s fjords without electric propulsion. Wello’s Power Module may be soon seen in these vessels too.
SAI has been working in renewables, including wave energy, for many years. If you are thinking of investing in a renewable project, just wave (or call us).