Tech giant announces world’s first deployment of revolutionary grid-scale energy device: ‘This … project couldn’t come online at a more critical time’
A new grid-scale wave energy device has been deployed off the coast of Hawai’i to produce electricity, which the company that developed it says is a world’s first for its type at this scale.
The oceans offer a vast resource for power generation, with companies finding new ways to harness the power of tides, currents, and waves. Among them are submerged turbines and screw-like concepts, along with deep-sea wave-harnessing tech like the one developed by Ocean Energy USA, a part of Ireland’s Ocean Energy Group.
The technology is called the OE Buoy, and the device itself is the OB-35. It’s an 826-ton floating power station that measures 125 by 59 feet, with a 30-foot draft and a potential capacity of 1.25 megawatts.
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“Following over a decade and a half of design, trials, testing and building, we are excited finally to be able to take this major step towards commercialization with our world-class OE-35 device,” said Professor Tony Lewis, Ocean Energy’s chief technology officer, in a statement.
“This internationally significant project couldn’t come online at a more critical time for the US and Ireland as the World needs to accelerate the pace of decarbonization with new and innovative technologies.”
The buoy consists of a long, backward-facing duct that connects to an air chamber with a turbine at the top. As waves push water into the duct, the air pressure increases and powers a turbine. When they recede, a vacuum is created and air rushes in, which continues to spin it in the same direction for more continuous generation.
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The OB-35 was deployed on the windward coast of the island of Oahu at the U.S. Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site on July 19. There, it can be connected to the grid to bolster the island’s green energy supply — once initial testing is complete.
These projects serve as a complement to solar panels and wind energy, with the potential to help remote islands and coastal communities get clean, renewable power, which is better for the planet and improves the health of people in the area.
Hawai’i is a shining example of this, being the first state to commit to achieving 100% renewable energy for its electricity, to a net-negative emissions goal, and to putting the Paris Agreement into law. It’s even gone so far as to remove coal plants from the equation.
Ocean Energy had the OB-35 constructed in Oregon, and its long-term plan is to build five more buoys for testing in the nearby town of Newport, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).
“Oregon as a state has really bought into renewable energy and bought into marine energy and [has] done so for the past 15 years,” Ocean Energy’s CEO John McCarthy shared with OPB.
“These are power stations so they will be in there for you know 30, 40, 50, years, so that’s the kind of time span you’re looking at in terms of these devices, these are power plants.”
