Sweden-based Eco Wave Power has announced that the first of 10 floats has been successfully installed on the sea wall at Jaffa Port in Israel, marking an important milestone for the company's second grid-connected wave energy harvesting project.
We've been following the progress of Eco Wave Power (EWP) since the first tests of its wave energy harvesting system in 2012. The idea is to install arrays of floats on breakwaters and piers, which rise and fall with the waves. A land-based energy conversion unit then converts this wave energy into fluid pressure that drives a generator to produce electricity.
The company has been operating a pilot station in Jaffa Port since 2014, which has allowed for much real-world testing and tweaking the system. Its first grid-connected wave energy power station was officially opened on the east side of Gibraltar in 2016, representing the initial 100-kW part of a proposed 5-MW power station.
In August of 2019, EWP partnered with energy company EDF Renewables to form and new company called EWP EDF One and collaborate on the development of another grid-connected 100-kW pilot project, this time in Israel.
Work on the project began early the following year with the laying of grid connection cables in Jaffa Port, and by March 2021 preparation work on the sea wall had commenced to get the site ready for the installation of 10 EWP floats. These would be connected to a single container-sized energy conversion unit, which arrived on site in June of last year.
The first floats and supporting structures arrived at the port last month, and now installation has begun on the reinforced sea wall at Jaffa.
"The installation of the first floater is a significant progress toward the first grid-connected wave energy array installation in Israel," said EWP CEO, Inna Braverman. "Preparation for the installation of all remaining floaters on the external side of the Jaffa Port breakwater is in advanced stages and we are relishing over the prospect of being operative soon in the Mediterranean waves."
Once in place, the array and energy conversion setup will undergo thorough functionality and capacity testing ahead of official connection to the local power grid. According to the company's website, a number of other projects are in the pipeline totaling some 325.7 MW worldwide.
"Our goal is to generate electricity during the third quarter of this year," Braverman continued. "This is a key milestone in the overall development of the Eco Wave Power technology, and we believe that the results are expected to enable us to take important steps toward the commercial rollout of our pioneering technology."
Source: Eco Wave Power