Azura is a

wave power Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter (WEC). Waves are generated by w ...

device currently being tested in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

. It is connected to the municipal grid providing electricity to Hawaii. According to the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...

, this is the first time that a wave power generator has been officially verified to be supplying energy to a power grid in North America. This has been verified by the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

. The device can generate 20

kilowatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after Jame ...

s of power. The device is at the

Marine Corps Base Hawaii Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), formerly Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay and originally Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, is a U.S. Marine Corps facility and air station located on the Mokapu Peninsula of windward O'ahu in the City & County ...

's Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) on the north shore of

Kaneohe Bay Kāneohe () is a census-designated place (CDP) included in the City and County of Honolulu and located in Hawaii state District of Koolaupoko on the island of Oahu. In the Hawaiian language, ''kāne ohe'' means "bamboo man". According to an ...

, Oahu. It is situated on the surface of a 30-meter-deep berth where it is being monitored. This prototype (TRL 5/6) was developed b
Northwest Energy Innovations (NWEI)
with the support of the U.S. Navy, the United States Department of Energy, and the University of Hawaii. It will be in operation for a 1-year period of assessment. During that time, the University of Hawaii will be responsible for the collection and analysis of data. Azura was originally named "WET-NZ" from "Wave Energy Technology-New Zealand".

Background

Development was in 2006 by Callaghan Innovation and was first called WET-NZ. The initial concept was called the TRL 1, entered the micro-modeling stage under the name TRL 3, and is being tested in the open ocean with large scale prototypes called TRL 5/6 deployed near Christchurch, New Zealand

Description and operation

Azura floats on the surface of the sea and weighs 45 tons (41 tonnes). It has a unique floating mechanism that can rotate 360 degrees. This enables it to extract power from horizontal (surge) as well as vertical (heave) wave motion. It has reserve buoyancy that is very low, allowing it to partially submerge beneath large waves. Wave float with piston rod

Azura is a point absorber. This means that it uses a floating surface mechanism to absorb the energy of waves from different directions. This is the most common type of deepwater wave energy generator. The generator is driven with a high-pressure hydraulics system. The wave motion is captured by the circular rotation of the floating mechanism, and translated to crankshafts within the Azura. These crankshafts provide the motion for the high pressure hydraulic system.

Environmental Considerations

Many agencies have overseen and conducted assessments on the project prior to implementation. These included US Army Corps of Engineers, the US Coast Guard, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Oregon-based Department of State Lands, Department of Land Conservation and Development, and Department of Fish and Wildlife reviewed the project as well.

Preliminary tests

The initial phase of development used a smaller prototype that was tested in a wave tank. A second prototype was then installed in 2012 for a 6-week period at the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center’s test site off the coast of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

in an open-sea area. During that test, the device was exposed to wave heights of up to 3.75-meters in a 12 to 14-second

sea state In oceanography, sea state is the general condition of the free surface on a large body of water—with respect to wind waves and swell—at a certain location and moment. A sea state is characterized by statistics, including the wave height ...

. Both tests were successful.

Future plans

NWEI will use information gathered during the current test to further develop the project. With the Department of Energy providing an additional $5 million, NWEI plans to modify Azura to increase its efficiency and improve reliability. A new design will then be tested which will be full-scale and made to generate between 500 kilowatts and one

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after Jame ...

of power. At the end of 2017, Northwest Energy Innovations (NWEI) intends to install a full-scale model. The 500-kilowatt to 1-megawatt generator will be situated in a 60 to 80-meter-deep (100–150 feet) berth. One megawatt is sufficient to provide electricity to several hundred homes.

References

External links

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Diagram
{{Natural resources Wave energy converters Energy in Hawaii Industrial buildings and structures in Hawaii 2015 in the environment 2015 introductions