An Irish company has received approval to place a fully submerged wave energy converter system in Basque Country, Spain, Interesting Engineering reported. That means that another country will now begin harvesting clean, renewable energy from the power of ocean waves.
CETO Wave Energy Ireland, a subsidiary of Carnegie Clean Energy, was granted the "Authorisation to Proceed" from EuropeWave, a research and development project aimed at bringing more wave energy to Europe.
"For us, this is an exciting green light. We keep taking important steps towards being grid-connected and generating renewable electricity from waves in the Basque Country," Miguel Santos Herrá, the company's project manager, said in a press release.
While wind and solar are more widespread and tried-and-tested forms of renewable energy, wave energy is on the rise. Though the various companies pursuing this new form of clean energy have constructed different devices for doing so, the basic gist is that the devices can capture energy from the push and pull of the waves and convert it into usable electricity.
CETO's device differs from those of the other companies in that it is fully submerged under the water. One minor advantage of this approach is that it can be installed fully out of sight and will, therefore, not ruin the views of any beachgoers. As many of these devices are still in the testing phase, it has not yet emerged which one will prove to be the most efficient and reliable.
The co-CEO of another wave energy company, SWEL, was quick to clarify that he does not view his company's technology as being in competition with other wave energy companies or with wind or solar.
"We're trying to compete with fossil fuels," he said, as reported by CNET.
One advantage of wave energy converters over wind and solar is that because the ocean's waves are always waving, they can harvest energy continuously.
As society continues to move past the dirty energy sources — mainly oil and gas — that are polluting our air and overheating our planet, the more types of clean energy we have making use of our renewable natural resources, the better.
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