Cost Competitive Wave Energy Without Moving Parts

Oscilla Power, Inc. (OPI) is developing a utility-scale wave energy harvester that is enabled by low cost and readily-available magnetostrictive alloys. T his device, which utilizes no moving parts, has the potential to deliver predictable quantities of electric power to coastal utilities, industrial users, and remote facilities at costs competitive with coal or gas. The Phase I project demonstrated that required electromagnetic performance could be obtained through optimization of the power-take-off unit configuration. In the Phase II project, OPI will optimize, design and build a sea-worthy prototype that can produce enough power to recharge batteries needed for buoy-based measurement systems. OPI and its sub-contractor, the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory, will demonstrate this prototype in Pugent Sound. The project will demonstrate the commercial viability of the device and enable scale up to kilowatt-class systems in Phase III.