Energetech’s wave energy technology

As the wave trough occurs, a vacuum is created and the air is drawn backwards through the turbine, with the turbine blades adjusting to the reverse air flow. This innovation is known as the Denniss-Auld Turbine after its Australian inventors.

Specially developed systems management software accepts inputs such as wave height, wave frequency, turbine speed and generator output to adjust performance on a wave-by-wave basis to maximise operational efficiency.

"CEGT sees this as another exciting area of renewable energy technology," Mr Dekker said. "Many areas of Australia, particularly along the western and southern coastline, have wave conditions that can be efficiently converted to clean renewable energy by the Energetech system.

"The Energetech technology can easily be deployed in any suitable location around the world. With greater focus and more attractive energy policy and regulation for renewable energy in the UK and Europe, a significant export opportunity exists.”

The power of ocean waves has long been recognised as one of the great untapped energy resources and has been the subject of numerous patent applications over the last 200 years. The first wave power patent was filed in 1799, a proposal by a Parisian father and son team named Girard, for a device using direct mechanical action to drive pumps, saws, and other mechanical machinery.

Since that first patent, more than 1,000 patents related to obtaining useful energy from ocean waves have been filed in various countries though significant effort only really began in the 1970s when the oil crises provoked the exploitation of a range of renewable energy sources.

Based on various energy-extracting methods, a wide range of systems has been proposed but only a few reached the demonstration stage.

Wave energy can be considered a concentrated form of solar energy. Winds are generated by the differential heating of the earth, and, as a result of their blowing over large areas of water, part of their energy is converted into waves. The amount of energy transferred, and hence the size of the resulting waves, depends on the wind speed, the length of time for which the wind blows and the distance over it blows (the “fetch”).

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