M3 Wave to test NEXUS next week

M3 Wave team, a finalist in the Wave Energy Prize challenge, will be the first competitor to test its wave energy device at the MASK Basin in Carderock, Maryland.

M3 Wave’s entry into the Wave Energy Prize competition is NEXUS, a mid-column variant of their DMP/APEX submerged pressure differential technology.

NEXUS turns the pressure fluctuations under ocean waves into alternating expansion and compression cycles of air inside an enclosed pipe.

Power is harnessed with a bi-directional air turbine.

M3 Wave preparing for MASK testing (Image: Wave Energy Prize)
M3 Wave preparing for MASK testing (Image: Wave Energy Prize)

The M3 team is currently in Maryland at the Navy Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, preparing to deploy NEXUS which will be tested from August 8 to 12, 2016.

Mike Delos-Reyes, M3 Wave’s CEO, said: “NEXUS allows us to take our existing APEX technology and deploy it in more areas around the globe at a lower cost of energy. This has the potential to be a game -changer for disaster resilience, islands, isolated communities, and military operations.”

M3 Wave’s Northwest team includes fabrication by Ershigs out of Ridgefield, Washington, wave tank pre-testing and power system characterization by Oregon State University, mooring dynamics by Glosten out of Seattle, and Deployment Ops by RPS Evans-Hamilton, also from Seattle.