The search for new forms of clean, sustainable and useful energy does not stop and today we bring you a novelty that comes from the hands of Sea Wave Energy Ltd (SWEL), a company that has been working for years in a device powered by wave motion.
And the fact is that, of course, we find ourselves in an environment that, despite being frankly complicated and hard to work with, can offer great benefits in terms of energy at a low cost, since the waves, in all their splendor, hide a great source of energy behind.
Tidal energy is one of the oldest renewables, but its difficulties mean that it is often forgotten. But this does not mean that there are no innovative and interesting proposals. A year ago we told you about the most powerful tidal turbine in the world, according to its own developers.
Today we talk about SWEL and its Waveline Magnet prototypes. After carrying out several tests, this company assures that we are dealing with a device of very low cost with high performance. As for the structure, we are faced with long modular chains of plastic floats designed to perch on the water. We leave you an image to give you an idea.
As reported by NewAtlas, It works in the following way: the swell generates a meandering motion in the floats, which are attached to rigid, non-buoyant backbone pieces by lever arms (the red bars).
The floats move with the waves, the spine stays relatively still, and the lever arms drive electrical generators within the spine units as they move. The energy generated can be sent to the coast by cable, or used directly for consumption on the high seas.
The great advantage of this prototype, apart from the obvious ones already mentioned, is that can be built entirely with recycled materialsand its impact on marine life and the seabed should be minimal.
SWEL states that “a single Waveline will have a power rating of more than 100 MW in power environments.” “We can show how a commercial-sized device using our technology will achieve a levelized cost of energy (LCoE) of less than 1 cent/kWh, crushing the current wave energy industry benchmark of 85 cents/kWh.” …”
If all this turns out to be true, would mean that such a system produces power at less than half the cost of solar and wind. It would surpass gas, coal, nuclear energy, geothermal energy and any other energy production system of the moment.
However, be very careful, since SWEL still claims that they continue to carry out tests and collect data, so let’s take the latter with a grain of salt. We are only before promises and the latest tests carried out and to which we all have access, show quite brief and normal results.
If SWEL meets them, we will be facing a clean energy revolution that the planet needs, of course. For now, let’s allow ourselves to be somewhat skeptical of this system.