The shock wave energy generator is a floating platform that is installed in the coastal zone. The change in air pressure in it activates the turbine, which produces energy. A year ago, such a UniWave 200 platform from Wave Swell Energy was installed near King Island in the stormy Bass Strait between Australia and Tasmania. After 12 months of testing, the generator showed excellent results.
The 280 kW platform supplied energy to the island’s microgrid around the clock. During the work, the development team made some changes to the design, increasing its performance beyond expectations.
“Our team is pleased to achieve wave energy conversion rates of 45 to 50% on average over a wide range of wave conditions,” the researchers say.
Their goal was to prove that the platform could work effectively in different wave conditions. Scientists emphasize that the demonstration was not about the production of large amounts of energy. However, the technology can be scaled up for commercial use.
“The results have met and at times exceeded our expectations. As an example, when the unit is generating 40 kW of power in reasonable wave conditions, you could extrapolate the amount of energy to be in the order of 1MWh in a 24 hour period… The units can scale up from 200 kW. Exact size will depend upon the attributes of the wave climate at any particular location,” scientists emphasize.
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