WAVE SWELL ENERGY
Wave Swell Energy is trying to make ocean waves another source of renewable energy. For this, a huge UniWave 200 was built with a large concrete base, which has a hollow central chamber and a water inlet hole. As the water rises and falls within the chamber, air is forced through the turbine, rotating it and generating energy. Testing of the UniWave 200 has shown that the installation can be a viable solution.
The UniWave 200 system is an artificial version of the natural blowhole phenomenon, when air passes through small holes in the earth's surface leading to voids due to the pressure difference between the surface and underground at significant speed. If the blowhole is located near the sea or ocean and the associated cave has access to water at the same level or a little higher, under certain conditions, under the influence of sea waves or weather conditions, water sources can be thrown out of the blowhole under high pressure.
Based on this natural phenomenon, the UniWave 200 installation was built, which was tested off the coast of Australia's King Island for a year. During testing, Wave Swell Energy engineers evaluated the efficiency and availability of the UniWave 200. Efficiency is a measure of how much wave energy has been converted into electricity, and availability is a measure of how long the unit is able to convert wave energy to electricity.
Wave Swell Energy CEO Paul Geason said that during one year of operation, the UniWave 200 system showed an efficiency of 50% and an availability of around 80%. According to the University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems, wind turbines typically operate at around 50% efficiency and solar panels at 15-20%. In terms of availability, for wind turbines this figure is 95-97%, and for solar panels – 92-96%.
In the future, Wave Swell Energy intends to continue to refine the design of the UniWave 200 to improve performance as well as increase the reliability of wave energy-to-electricity conversion technology. The company believes that generating electricity from these facilities will benefit island nations.
AVnews/mundophone
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