Following the deployment and grid-connection of NWEI’s Azura wave energy device conducted last month, the device has now started producing clean power to Hawaii’s electricity grid.
The device has been installed in a 30-meter test berth at the Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) in Kaneohe Bay, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
It is now delivering power to Marine Corps Base located on the island.
According to US Department of Energy (US DoE), the launch of 20 kW demonstration project at WETS has already proven valuable in gathering performance and reliability data from the device in deep water, open-ocean conditions.
The data collected will be used to further optimize Azura’s performance and refine existing wave energy computer simulations, ultimately supporting commercialization of this technology.
Northwest Energy Innovations (NWEI), the developer behind the device, with $5 million in additional funding from the Energy Department, will apply lessons learned from this current phase of development to modify the device design in order to improve its efficiency and reliability.
NWEI plans to then test the improved design with a full-scale device rated between 500 kW and 1 MW at WETS at even deeper test berths of 60 to 80 meters over the next several years, according to DoE.
Northwest Energy Innovations is a Portland-based wave energy developer that has built Azura wave energy converter .
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Image: US DoE