#XWAVE STB1 PORTABLE#

For six months, the device will rock in the waves 1,800 feet-or about six football fields-off that pier. 16, 2021, CalWave took that salty plunge: The company deployed its xWave prototype off the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography research pier in San Diego, California.

But before marine energy companies like CalWave take their designs to the market, they must first take them to the ocean, a salty-and therefore corrosive-and volatile environment. CalWave’s xWave uses a promising architecture. Today, the technology is at an inflection point. “From powering autonomous vehicles for ocean exploration to transforming salt water into fresh for remote island communities or disaster recovery situations, marine energy devices have a vast range of potential applications.” Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), which provided funding to CalWave to design, build, and test its proprietary technology. “Marine energy systems, like CalWave’s xWave, are exciting not just because they can provide clean, carbon-free energy to coastal communities,” said Yana Shininger, a technical project officer for the U.S.

#XWAVE STB1 PORTABLE#

coastlines: Offshore, portable wave energy devices could help power the growing blue economy, including sensor-equipped sea drones that collect data on ocean ecosystems for marine research.

On its own, wave energy could satisfy up to 34% of the United States’ electricity needs. Combined, the three renewable resources could provide the grid with reliable power both day and night and year-round. When the sun sets and winds slow, waves keep moving at a steady pace through all four seasons. Wave energy is also a good complement to other renewable energy resources. “Wave power is regarded as the largest unused renewable resource and the third-largest technical feasible resource,” said Lehmann, who co-founded California-based CalWave in 2014. The launch edges the technology closer to providing grid-connected electricity for coastal communities worldwide. In September 2021, one of those designs-CalWave’s xWave-got a step closer with the company’s (and California’s) first at-sea, long-duration wave energy pilot project. Several architectural designs are currently vying for commercial success. But the marine energy industry-which develops technology that creates electricity from ocean waves, currents, and tides-is in an earlier stage of development. Through decades of development, the solar power and wind energy industries have homed in on the most cost-effective and efficient designs to transform these energy sources into electricity. Today, as the CEO of CalWave Power Technologies, Inc., Lehmann and his team build machines to capture a different, newer renewable energy source: the energy of ocean waves. After hearing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change urgently call for more renewable energy, the young engineer decided to dedicate his career to thwarting climate change with new renewable energy solutions. In high school, Marcus Lehmann built a solar-powered race car.

Xwave stb1