bioWAVE

This article was first published in the January 2016 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

This 400-tonne, 23-metre wave-energy generator is inspired by strands of seaweed. "We designed it with a highly efficient pivoting structure, reminiscent of the natural swaying motion that a plant would undergo in the waves," explains Timothy Finnigan, CEO of Australian energy technology company BioPower Systems, which created the bioWAVE generator.


This biomimetic approach not only helps the bioWAVE harvest wave energy more efficiently, it also keeps it safe in rough conditions.

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"Natural systems have evolved over billions of years to survive this difficult environment," explains Finnigan. "Kelp in particular can reach right up to the surface, where it moves with the forces rather than braces against them."

Mimicking kelp, the bioWAVE lies down

flat against the ocean floor during stormy conditions by filling its three large buoyant tanks, called blades, with seawater. When conditions are calmer, compressed air forces the water out, causing them to float back up.


"One of the problems with wave energy has been that structures are focused around withstanding the most extreme waves that could occur, so the design has been detached from the day-to-day purpose of generating energy in typical conditions," explains Finnigan. "That seemed illogical to us, so we designed our system to respond to the waves, rather than brace against them.

A 250kW demonstration generator was completed in June for a trial off the coast of Port Fairy in Australia at the end of November. Next, BioPower systems plans to scale up to market-ready megawatt class design by 2020, producing around four times the prototype's power output. "Waves are a massive source of clean energy for the planet, particularly on the coastlines of Australia, Northern Europe and the west coast of North America, which are buffeted by a consistent, continuous supply," says Finnigan. "We know this technology can be made to work. The challenge is making it cost-effective."