First onshore wave energy project in the U.S. launches in Los Angeles
By Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times.
Excerpt: Along a rocky wharf at the Port of Los Angeles on Tuesday, seven blue steel structures bobbed in the gentle wake of a Catalina Island ferry. The bouncing floaters marked a moment for clean energy — the first onshore wave power project in the country. The floaters belong to Eco Wave Power, a Swedish company behind the pilot project located at AltaSea, a nonprofit ocean institute at the port. They harness the natural rise and fall of the ocean to create clean electricity 24 hours a day. The pilot project can generate up to a modest 100 kilowatts of power — enough for about 100 homes — but company officials said the ultimate goal is to install steel floaters along the port’s 8-mile breakwater to generate about 60 megawatts of power, or enough for about 60,000 homes. Such an achievement could be replicated along other parts of the U.S. coastline, according to Inna Braverman, Eco Wave Power’s co-founder and chief executive. She noted that the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that wave power has the potential to provide more than 60% of the country’s energy needs. ...The technology uses the bobbing floaters to compress pistons, which push hydraulic fluid into storage tanks located nearby on land. As the pressure increases inside the tanks, it spins a motor, which turns a generator that makes clean electricity. ...unlike other renewables such as wind and solar power, which cannot produce electricity around the clock unless accompanied by batteries, wave energy is 24/7....