Generating electricity from ocean waves is a Holy Grail in clean energy for good reason. Unlike wind or sunshine, waves happen 24 hours a day and can deliver uninterrupted energy.
It’s also like the Holy Grail because it’s so hard to do. Despite years of research, no wave farms have yet appeared. “Wave power is difficult because the environment is very, very aggressive,” says Michael Liebreich, CEO of market research firm New Energy Finance. “Not only is there saltwater everywhere, but you’re going to the most hostile, wavy places.”
In April, however, General Electric gave a wave of confidence to the technology by backing Ocean Power Delivery (OPD). The Edinburgh, Scotland-based startup is shipping wave energy converters to Portugal for the world’s first wave farm, expected to go live later this year. GE’s Technology Lending unit is loaning OPD $2.6 million and participating in a $22.5-million equity funding round.
That followed a first round of funding in 2004 of more than £7.5 million (about $13.9 million) in financing by 3i, the Carbon Trust, Norsk Hydro Technology Ventures, and Sustainable Asset Management.
OPD’s Pelamis Wave Energy Converter looks like a 383-foot-long “sea snake” of large buoys partially submerged in the water and moored to the ocean floor. Hydraulic rams pump high-pressure oil through hydraulic motors, generating 750 kilowatts of electricity from the wave motion. When complete the project will generate enough electricity to power 15,000 Portuguese homes.
“What attracted us to Ocean Power Delivery is the fact that they have the first commercial contract,” says Mark Huang, a senior vice president of GE Commercial Finance - Technology Lending, “That’s a huge hurdle.”
When surf conditions get rough, other systems tend to shut down or break, says Sean Brownlee, a partner with 3i, which invested in OPD’s first round. OPD’s converter has couplings that can be adjusted remotely, allowing the head of the “snake” to essentially dive through the waves instead of being smacked and lifted up by them, he says. “They’ve solved some fundamental problems that other systems can’t address,” Mr. Brownlee says.
Still, Mr. Liebreich says he expects it will take about 15 years for marine energy to make up a meaningful part—say, 1 percent—of the energy grid. While OPD is “probably the most advanced” of the ocean power technologies, it hasn’t been proven on a large scale, he says.