Speaker 1: These floaters turn the rise and fall of waves into renewable energy. We spoke to the co-founder and CEO of Eco Wave Power to learn more about how they work, their impact on the environment and when you might find them coming to a shoreline near you. Let's get into it. Eco wave power starts by gathering data about waves in a given area and using that to design their floaters.
Speaker 2: The floaters are attached to existing structures by [00:00:30] kind of robust steel arms. They're going up and down with the movement of the waves and they're pushing a hydro cylinder, which transmits by the gradable fluid into land located accumulators. A pressure is being built the higher the wave, the higher the pressure, which is used to turn the hydro motor turn in the generator and sending clean electricity to the grid DN inverter. And the whole technology is controlled by smart automation system that, for example, it knows to recognize upcoming storms. So when the waves are too high for the system to handle, the [00:01:00] floaters automatically rise above the water level and they lock in the upward position until the storm passes. And when it passes, the floaters go back into the water and commence operation.
Speaker 1: The amount of energy produced per floater is dependent on the wave conditions in the area as well as the floater design.
Speaker 2: If it's a location that has a smaller kind of waves or lower wave conditions, then we will install a larger amount of smaller scale floaters, which will be also lighter. So it'll be easier to, you know, for them to lift up with the movement of lower waves in the [00:01:30] location that has very high waves or much higher nature waves. We will use larger, much larger scale floaters, the bigger volume, but a smaller amount. So like for example, if you're looking at our recent installation here in Java port, which is a 100 kilowatt installed capacity, we have 10 floaters. So each floater can generate up to 10 kilowatts, which is about 10 household. If you wanna make it an easy words
Speaker 1: Efficiency is another key metric for any renewable energy technology. That is how much of the energy source, for example, wind, solar, [00:02:00] or waves, is converted into usable electrical energy.
Speaker 2: We have mechanical engineering, which is the floaters that is turning into hydraulic engineering, which is the pressure. And that is turning into the electrical engineering, which is of course everything from the generator to the inverter to the grid connection. So according to our calculation, the efficiency of the overall system is about 50%.
Speaker 1: For comparison, most solar panels are around 20% efficient and most wind turbines can reach efficiency of around 50% during peak times.
Speaker 2: And we install our equipment [00:02:30] on existent man-made structures such as piers, break water, jets, and other types of structures, which enables us a much more cost efficient and more easier implementation of the technology.
Speaker 1: Eco wave power has already started installing grid connected floaters around the world with more on the way.
Speaker 2: In 2016, we installed our first grid connected power station in Gibraltar, and right now we're finishing our second grid connected power station, which will be in Israel. The third one that we will be opening is the one in the port of Los Angeles, Angeles, hopefully [00:03:00] q1 or maximum of latest Q2 of next year. And then we have also commercial orders. Our first commercial orders are from Portugal, where we signed the concession agreement for 20 megawatts, which is already much larger scale than what we have built so far.
Speaker 1: I was curious about how marine life would be impacted by these floaters, especially sea lion, who seem so eager to lounge on anything humans put into the water.
Speaker 2: Remember that the floaters are constantly moving with the power of the wave, so you can't really lie on it that, uh, you [00:03:30] know, comfortably. So we didn't have this problem so far, and even the fluid that we use in order to create the pressure in the system is biodegradable fluid. So we did a number of time environmental surveys and we have no influence on the environment and we're very, very proud of
Speaker 1: Them. Wave energy technology might not be widespread yet, but en says its untapped potential is large.
Speaker 2: According to the Energy Information Administration, uh, 66% of all the United States energy needs can be provided by the power of the waves alone. [00:04:00] To compare right now about 20% of all US electricity, only 20% is produced by renewable energy.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for watching. I'm your host, Jess Yal. See you next time with the fam.
