Ocean holds a tremendous amount of untapped energy. Ocean energy comes in variety of forms such as marine currents, tidal streams, geothermal vents and waves.

WaveSurfer wave energy converter generates electricity by harnessing renewable energy of ocean waves.

Wave Surfer Inc., a company organized and existing under the laws of the State of Nevada, United States of America, was granted an exclusive license to build, distribute, market, and sell wave energy conversion devices based on our proprietary WaveSurfer technology, subject to the terms and conditions of the Exclusive Licensing Agreement for Wave Energy Technology duly executed by Alternate Dimension Science and Technology LLC and Wave Surfer Inc. The said license also grants the use of all trademarks, logos, and marketing materials associated with the WaveSurfer technology.

harvesting energy of ocean waves

who we are

WaveSurfer Technology was developed by Robert Bado and Artem Madatov, and is now available through Quantum Energy Systems.

After several years of extensive numerical modeling and analysis, the WaveSurfer pilot system was tested for the first time in 2002 at the testing grounds of the Marine Hydrophysical Institute, National Academy of Science of Ukraine. In 2002 a number of tests was successfully conducted at the grounds of the University of the South Pacific, Suva Campus, Fiji.

Over the years the WaveSurfer technology has transformed from an original idea to a fully developed market-ready system. WaveSurfer is commercially available since 2009.

wavesurfer

WaveSurfer™ system is a wave energy converter that generates electricity by harnessing renewable energy of ocean waves in a manner that is both economically viable and environmentally friendly.

WaveSurfer is a reliable, inexpensive and efficient off-shore system, that can be installed on different depths by mooring. The system contains no expensive or complex parts, lubricants, high precision hydraulics or air pumps, everything that makes other systems more expensive, vulnerable to destructive forces of nature and potentially hazardous.

principle of operation

WaveSurfer technology utilizes finite depth of ocean waves and drag force of water. Motion of water beneath the surface decreases exponentially with depth. No matter how significant wave action is on water surface, water at a depth of one-half wavelength L/2 (wave base) and below is motionless.

WaveSurfer unit comprises two bodies, (1) moored to seabed buoyant body and (2) suspended from it fully submerged frame with installed rotors and electric generator. The submerged body is held at a depth of around one-half wavelength where the water is motionless.

The buoyant body rises with each wave dragging the attached submerged body upward through the region of motionless water until a wave reaches its crest. As the wave falls, the gravity drags the said submerged body downward through the same region of motionless water until the wave reaches its trough. 

This up and down motion through a region of stationary water causes rotation of the rotors due to water resistance force (drag force). Rotor buckets are so shaped to move through water with minimum resistance in one direction (drag coefficient CD – 0.09) and with maximum resistance in the opposite direction (drag coefficient CD– 2.0).

Rotation is transmitted to an electric generator installed on the submerged body. The generator is equipped with a flywheel and overrunning clutch to maintain constant rotation.The technology utilizes the water resistance (drag) that opposes the relative motion of the submerged platform with installed rotors through the water. Drag forces act in a direction opposite to the oncoming flow velocity.

Specifications
  • Power output: from 1 kW to 10 MW per 1 unit
  • Minimum life span before significant repairs: 25-35 years
  • Type: “point absorber” installed on a variety of depths by mooring
  • Minimum operational wave height: 0.5 m
  • Materials: plastic, rubber, steel; Energy delivery method: underwater cable
  • Scalability: from a single unit to multi-unit, multi-megawatt farms

advantage

One of the main advantages of the WaveSurfer system is its remarkably high survivability level. The system's energy conversion and power generation parts are completely submerged at such depth where the water is not affected by the surface waves, therefore is motionless. There is no rigid connection between two bodies of the unit. The floating buoy and the submerged frame with rotors and generators are flexibly connected to each other by lines, cables or chains.

WaveSurfer is designed to operate in harmony with waves rather than attempting to resist them.

WaveSurfer system has high capacity factor and operates across a variety of wave heights and periods making it base load energy option.

Due to the system's modular design and high scalability, it can occupy a multitude of markets e.g. remote islands, marinas, oceanside resorts, shore communities, ports, fish processing plants, naval installations, as well as multi-megawatt grid-connected wave power farms.

WaveSurfer can also be used as an autonomous power generator for remote ocean-based platforms e.g. military, oil rigs, meteorological, oceanographic.

Because of the modular, easy-to-assemble design each unit can be cost effectively transported and installed anywhere in the world. Parts are shipped in regular 20' or 40' containers and assembled at the installation site.

WaveSurfer power farm's capacity can be increased incrementally to match the gradual load growth.

WaveSurfer substantially outperforms the competing technologies with respect to efficiency, survivability, cost and maintenance.

Environmental Impact

For over ten years WaveSurfer projects underwent an extensive environmental assessment with the assistance from The Marine Hydrophysical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The study featured evaluation of potential impacts on: the seabed, fish and benthic organisms, mammals, vegetation, and water quality. The project study resulted in a finding of no significant impact (FONSI), which is the highest such environmental rating.

The project team considered the following environmental issues:

  1. Withdrawal of wave energy
  2. Interactions with marine life and seabirds
  3. Conflicts with other uses of sea space
  4. Atmospheric and oceanic emissions
  5. Visual impact
  6. Installation and decommissioning
Withdrawal of Wave Energy

WaveSurfer power plants do not present an impervious barrier to waves traveling shoreward. Gaps between units and less than 100% absorption efficiency allow considerable wave energy to pass through the plant. Lowering of wave energy levels reaching the coast may reduce erosion in the site's wave shadow. WaveSurfer power plants operate in waters deeper than 25 meters (80 feet) in areas where there are no breaking waves.

Conflicts with Other Users of Sea Space

Although the potential for conflict with other users of sea space exists, it is not an environmental issue and must be addressed early in the siting of offshore wave power plants.

Interactions with Marine Life and Seabirds

19 years of operations in different parts of the World clearly demonstrate WaveSurfer units attract marine life and seabirds. The unit's floating parts provide hauling-out space for marine pinnipeds and colonization space for seabirds. As marine pinnipeds and seabird populations become adapted to this artificial space, care must be taken in the decommissioning schedule to mitigate potential impacts to these populations. Submerged components such as anchors and cables may provide substrates for colonization by benthic organisms such as corals creating “artificial reefs.”

There is an expected level of disturbance to the seabed and benthos during installation, but this impact can be minimized by careful site selection and advanced installation techniques.

Atmospheric and Oceanic Emissions

WaveSurfer devices do not use hydraulics, therefore no working fluid spills or leakage are of any concern. No oils, lubricants or any other potentially harmful chemicals are used in WaveSurfer devices.

  • Noise: localized, intermittent and short duration noise during installation.
  • Electromagnetic Emission (EE): minor and temporary impact from EE on marine organisms in the vicinity of the submarine hub, transformer and cables.
  • Electrical Leakage: Mild and temporary discomfort for marine organisms and divers could occur in the unlikely event of submarine cable damage.
Visual Impact

WaveSurfer devices due to their low-freeboard design are not visually intrusive on the seascape as viewed from the shore, even from elevated shoreline positions. The units are installed at least several hundred yards (meters) from the shore, beyond the reef, where present.Because of the fishing activity in offshore shelf waters, WaveSurfer floating devices will have to be appropriately marked as a navigation hazard. In addition to lights, highly contrasting day-markers will be required. Day-markers that meet the US Coast Guard requirement of being visible within one nautical mile (1.8 km) at sea are expected to have negligible visual impact when viewed from shore.

Installation and Decommissioning

Wave power plant installation issues to be addressed include mooring as well as routing and shore crossing of submarine power cables. 

Decommissioning issues include disposition of fixed structures on the sea floor, gradual removal of floating platforms in stages e.g. if there is evidence of use as haul-out space by  pinnipeds or colonization by seabirds.

Conclusions

The conclusions that we have drawn can be summarized in three statements:

  1. All energy producing technologies, and for that matter, all human endeavors in general, and ocean energy conversion in specific, have the potential to produce environmental impact.
  2. Given proper care in siting, installation, operation and decommissioning, ocean energy technology is one of the more environmentally benign electricity generation technologies. Most known negative environmental effects can be minimized and in some cases eliminated by diligent attention to the environmental effects.
  3. WaveSurfer technology has insignificant environmental impact.

modular ocean observatory

Modular Ocean Observatory with Unmanned Vehicle recharging capability is powered by the WaveSurfer wave energy conversion technology.

WaveSurfer Modular Ocean Observatory unit consists of two modular platforms, a floating on the surface modular equipment platform and a below-the-surface modular wave energy converter based on the proprietary WaveSurfer technology.

WaveSurfer system is wave direction neutral and operates across a variety of wave heights and periods.

Ocean Observatory's modular design of both platforms, above-the-surface float with installed equipment and below-the-surface power generating wave converter, allows practically unlimited use in scientific research, meteorological, ocean-monitoring and defense applications.