Clean energy from ocean waves? The idea is being tested Hawaii waters.

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By Jim Mendoza
Published: Aug. 17, 2021 at 5:09 PM UTC

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii is the only test site in the United States where wave energy can feed electricity to the power grid. The Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, part of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, conducts the studies.

“We’ve been the only show in town, at least in the U.S. And there are really only a few few grid connected test sites globally,” HNEI marine researcher Pat Cross said.

He believes electricity produced by harnessing the power of the ocean will eventually be a commercially viable source of clean power to go along with wind and solar.

“The wave resource out there in the world is vast and could potentially meet a huge percentage of the world’s needs,” he said.

HNEI has tested two different wave energy converters off Oahu’s windward coast. One looks like a large ring. The other has a float that rocks between two uprights. They were built by different companies, and more are on the way.

“Some of the ones we’ve got coming in the near future are quite different again,” Cross said.

COVID interfered with the institute’s testing schedule, but it hopes to pick it up again later this year with new devices not related to the power grid.

Companies are producing wave energy converters that can store power and feed it to off-shore communications systems and autonomous vehicles.

“Some of these off-shore applications that I’m talking about are of high interest to the Navy,” Cross said.

HNEI gets funding from the U.S. Navy and the Department of Energy. A recent infusion of $6 million will help the institute continue research and also focus on its own projects.

“One is a flap type near shore wave energy converter. Another is a buoyant oscillating water column named ‘Halona’ after the Halona blow hole, because it’s a very similar principle,” Cross said. “We now have a considerable amount of funding to work on concepts of our own imagination. That’s a lot of fun.”

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