Wave Power

Swedish company NoviOcean has tested a third-gen prototype of its combination wind/solar/wave energy platform, a floating platform rated for up to 1 MW of consistent clean energy around the clock, thanks to a fascinating buoyancy-driven mechanism.

If you find yourself in the Australian port city of Albany and spot a humongous yellow machine bobbing in the waves of King George Sound, don't be alarmed. It's just a generator prototype making a case for renewable wave energy.

EWP has been floating its wave energy system for over 10 years, where the rise and fall of coastal waters drives hydraulic pistons that run a generator to produce electricity. Now the company is getting ready to build its first megawatt installation.

Ocean Energy has deployed its 826-tonne wave energy converter buoy OE-35 at the US Navy's Wave Energy Test Site off the coast of the island of Oahu ahead of it being hooked up to Hawaii's electricity grid.

Sweden's CorPower has announced "breakthrough" results from Atlantic ocean testing of its full-scale floating generators, which cleverly time their motions to amplify smaller waves while protecting themselves against dangerous storm conditions.

Wave energy remains one of the least-exploited clean energy options, with huge potential as part of a green energy grid. Finland's AW Energy is preparing to field a contender at scale – the Waveroller – which sits on the sea bed generating up to 1 MW.

Ships can become mobile wave energy converters, say Chinese researchers, using "heaving oscillators" that draw power from heaving, rolling and pitching movements as they move through the sea, while also acting as motion dampers to improve safety.

Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed an unusual way to harvest wave power, with a gently rolling cylinder designed around the triboelectric effect that causes static shocks after you walk on certain carpets.

Sweden's Eco Wave Power has been proving its relatively simple, jetty-mounted wave energy devices for at least 10 years now, and has now inked a conditional deal for a 77-megawatt installation in Turkey - the world's largest wave power plant.

This remarkable desalination device, made from recycled plastic bottles, floats in the ocean and runs on wave power, creating up to 13,000 gallons (53,000 liters) of fresh water a day – and discharging far less toxic brine than other designs.

Scotland's AWS Energy has reported results some 20% better than predicted for its Archimedes Waveswing, a prototype wave energy generator that's been undergoing ocean-based testing at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney for the last 6 months.

Irish company OceanEnergy has already tested its oscillating water column generators at significant scale in Hawaii, and it's just signed on to a four-year project to test, validate and commercialize its biggest unit yet off Orkney, in Scotland.