Wave Swell Energy’s (WSE) demonstration project at King Island, the UniWave200 device, has seen significant and vital progress in recent weeks. The unit first generated electrical energy into the Hydro Tasmania grid on June 18. Generation was then gradually scaled up, with power being exported intermittently in relatively small sea states while the onboard systems were physically monitored. The unit then began to be operated remotely, with some manual operation required while the control systems continued to be optimised.
The UniWave200 device has operated in a wider range of sea states during the past few weeks, including the continuous and autonomous exporting of power into the Hydro Tasmania grid for long periods of time of up to 24 hours straight. In the coming weeks the unit is expected to operate continuously for increasingly extended periods of time. This is an exciting development that has realised important progress for both the King Island project and for WSE’s wave energy technology in general.