Wave power

For more than a decade, Danish company Wavestar has been testing a machine to turn wave energy into electricity. It is almost ready to be made commercially viable.

How it works

1. Floats rise and fall with the waves moving beneath.

2. Mechanical energy of the waves is transferred via hydraulics to rotate the generator to produce electricity.

Capacity

Current output of the wave machine is at 1MW. The goal is to increase the output to 6MW, enough to power 4,000 homes.

Wind

A wind turbine can be installed on the wave machine to generate more electricity.

Energy generated by waves is more predictable than from solar or wind sources, making it easy to forecast energy production.

Survivability at sea

When conditions become too stormy, floats are automatically raised out of the sea.

The floats are deployed in the dominant direction of the waves.

Timeline

2004

A 1:40 scale model of the machine was built for the purpose of figuring out the best configuration to use for a larger machine.

2005

A 1:10 scale model was built for operation in the sea at Nissum Bredning, Denmark. It was designed to explore issues of operating in the sea. It was installed in 2006.

2009

A 1:2 scale 600kw machine was installed at Hanstholm, Denmark. It was connected to the grid.

2016

Wavestar has received a grant from Horizon 2020, a framework programme for research and technological development, for the construction and installation of a 1MW machine in Belgium.

The idea of the wave engine came about when my brother Keld and I visited my parents' beach house. We were on a small sail boat and out on the waves. We really felt the power of the waves, that's when we started to talk about how we can exploit this energy. - Inventor Niels Arpe Hansen

This article was first published on June 8, 2016.
Get The New Paper for more stories.