Atmocean, Inc. has announced it has been awarded a permit to deploy its wave energy system just north of ILO, Peru.
In addition, Atmocean is now working with the Global Technology Deployment Initiative (GTDI) to develop a Strategic Plan to accelerate the deployment of its technology globally. GTDI seeks to identify breakthrough technologies which when brought to scale can make a major impact in dealing with global climate issues and growing basic resource shortages such as energy. Atmocean is the only wave energy technology GTDI has agreed to work with in the Strategic Planning Process.
The work of GTDI is part of a comprehensive global effort to reduce barriers to accelerated technology deployment such as were addressed at the Global Solutions Summit.
The permit issued by the Captain of The Peru Navy at the deployment site in ILO will enable deployment by spring 2015 of Atmocean’s first commercial-scale wave energy system. With exposure to steady waves originating from Antarctica, Peru’s coastline is ideal for the Atmocean technology.
The Atmocean wave energy system is unique in that each array of fifteen seawater pumps located up to 2 miles offshore produces pressurized water transmitted in a seafloor hose to the onshore turbine operating a generator. With all the electrical equipment onshore, this design is very low cost – under $1 million per megawatt of rated capacity – and thus is economic even without government subsidies, delivering electricity as low as 6 cents per kilo-Watt-hour (kWh).
In addition to producing clean, renewable electricity from ocean waves, the pumped seawater can be filtered to remove plastic debris which is now understood to be a major source of pollution in the world’s oceans. Other end products of the Atmocean wave energy system include fresh water from desalination, and ice for commercial fishing.
According to Chris White, Project Manager for Atmocean, “With receipt of this permit, and participation in the Global Technology Deployment Initiative, we’re on track to demonstrate Atmocean’s wave energy technology at scale, laying the foundation for future global deployments”.