Wave energy system validated at Hawaii test site

US-based wave energy developer Oscilla Power has validated the 100kW Triton-C wave energy system at the U.S. Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) in Hawaii. 

The developer reported that the core systems performed well during the deployment, producing a large volume of data for validation and future improvements.

“A huge thank you to DOE Water Power Technologies Office, all our supporters and investors who enabled us to get to this point, and we are now looking forward to what’s next for the Triton-C,” Oscilla Power said in a social media post.

According to the company, the deployment provided important results to support further development of the Triton-C device.

Oscilla Power’s Triton wave energy device is a multi-mode point absorber that consists of a geometrically optimized surface float connected to a ring-shaped, vertically asymmetric heave plate. While the Triton-C is designed to produce 100kW in energetic West Coast waves, the waves at the Hawaii site are about half the rated level due to a milder climate.

In April 2024, Oscilla Power published a video of the installation of its 1:6 scale prototype of the 1 MW Triton wave energy converter (WEC), which took place off the U.S. East Coast in December 2023.