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Researchers at MIT have gotten into the wave power game, working with a Portuguese university to design a pilot-scale device researchers say will capture more of the energy in ocean waves than existing systems.
The new design, conceived as part of a joint effort between MIT and Instituto Superior Tecnico, Technical University of Lisbon, uses a numeric simulation that can predict wave forces on a given device and the motion of the device that will result. By employing this data, designers can build more efficient devices for capturing energy and converting it to electricity, according to a statement from MIT.
The groups expects to employ the new system as the Instituto Superior Tecnico plans a pilot-scale oscillating water column (OWC) wave power facility slated for installation at the head of a new breakwater at the mouth of the Douro River in Porto, a large city in northern Portugal. Ultimately, the installation will include three OWCs that together will generate 750 kilowatts — roughly enough to power 750 homes. In addition, the plant’s absorption of wave energy at the breakwater head will calm the waters in the area and reduce local erosion.
Chiang Mei, the Ford Professor of Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT and head of the MIT team, has been looking into wave power since the 1970s. He said with the recent spike in oil prices and awareness surrounding alternative energy, there has been a renewed interest in harnessing the energy in ocean waves.
However, he also concedes that widespread adoption could be years, if not decades, away.
While both Portugal and Scotland have been major research centers for ocean energy on the world stage, New England has produced its own share of innovations, including Ocean Renewable Power LLC in Fall River, which last year floated a pilot of its tidal power device in Maine.
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