Wave Swell Energy
PITCHFEST 2020 Runner Up
Website: https://www.waveswell.com/
Headquarters: Melbourne, Australia
Year Commenced: 2016
Ocean Theme: Ocean Energy & Ocean Health
About: Wave Swell Energy (WSE) is an innovative renewable energy technology company that utilises a unique unidirectional Oscillating Water Column technology to generate electricity. The Oscillating Water Column is a form of artificial blowhole, with a large opening underneath the structure and a small opening to the atmosphere above the water, resulting in a rising and falling of the water level inside the chamber as each wave passes. This oscillatory motion of the water displaces the air, thereby driving a turbine and generating electricity.
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Mission: To lead a proprietary technology that converts ocean wave energy into clean and zero-emission electricity.
Solution: Wave Swell Energy (WSE) has developed a technology that produces clean, sustainable electricity without the use of oil or other contaminants. The technology uses an Oscillating Water Column (OWC), similar to an artificial blowhole, that results in the rising and falling of the water level inside the chamber as a wave passes by. This fluctuation in pressure drives a turbine that generates electricity. The device floats on top of the water and can be towed to suitable locations of naturally occurring, infinite resources of ocean waves.
WSE installed a demonstration unit at King Island, Tasmania, in January 2021. It has since been commissioned and supplying energy to the King Island grid since June 2021.
The technology has several applications in addition to conventional energy generation, including displacing diesel in remote island locations, producing hydrogen, producing desalinated water and acting as a form of protection against coastal erosion
How does the ocean inspire you? “The amount of energy in the ocean, in all its various forms, is enough to power the entire world's current energy needs more than 5,000 time over. Just the energy in the waves that are washed up on the beaches of the world is enough to provide twice the current global electricity demand. Wave Swell Energy is inspired to convert just a small proportion of this energy into green electricity to help reduce global carbon emissions, while at the same time, protecting our coastlines from extreme storms caused by ever increasing climate related events.” - Tom Denniss, Founder and Executive Chairman.
