The energy of the ocean’s waves has been the target of scientists and researchers looking to harness this power to use as a form of electricity on the land. While there has been a few different projects we’ve seen over the years, what may be the first grid-connected wave power station has recently been brought online off the coast of Western Australia. Australia’s Carnegie Wave Energy has turned on a pilot project that has begun supplying wave-generated electricity into a local power grid after more than a decade of testing.
The company’s technology is names CETO after a Greek goddess of the sea, that takes the energy from the waves crashing into its round, submerged floating buoys tethered to seabed pump units installed between 25 and 50 meters deep to drive pumps to power a hydroelectric power station. Pressurized seawater is forced through a pipeline where it is converted to zero-emission renewable power in the power station. Additionally, the pressurized seawater is used to drive a reverse osmosis desalination plant for zero-emission desalinated freshwater.
Two of the project’s three CETO 5 buoys have been installed and the company saw the first 240kW peak capacity unit operating for more than 2,000 hours. The company is now developing a CETO 6 that are expected to have four times the power generating capacity. See the video below for a time-lapse installation of one of the buoys.
[viaScience Alert]
