Constant, powerful, and notoriously difficult to harness, wave energy has become a sort of holy grail in renewables over the years. Wave and tidal converters are used across the globe, from Sri Lanka and Ghana to France and the UK, which is currently the world’s leading producer of wave and tidal power. But wave harnessing comes with its challenges.
Wave converters have to withstand the ocean’s fury, survive rust and biogrowth, and operate in a way that doesn’t disturb the marine life around them. And that’s on top of having to be cost effective enough to compete with other sustainable sources, like solar or wind.
Oregon-based Panthalassa’s Ocean-2 wave power converter wants to tackle all these issues, and so far it seems like it could. In this video, we look into the project, how it works, and what its success could mean for the future of renewable energy.
