Startup squeezing energy from waves, no grid required

Boston, Mass.-based Resolute Marine Energy thinks it has a unique way of producing clean energy from waves, without necessarily being connected to the grid.

The early-stage company is developing two products, known as wave energy converters, which take energy from the waves and convert them into electricity, compressed air or compressed seawater, the company’s COO Olivier Ceberio told the Cleantech Group.

“It’s very simple in terms of the design,” he said. “We use a mechanical device that transfers the motion of the wave into another motion.”

The company’s first product, branded the AirWec, uses a plate below the water and a buoy that follows the path of the waves to create energy, in the form of compressed air. The patent-pending device is expected to be dedicated to offshore agriculture, specifically fish farming, Ceberio said.

See a photo of the AirWec here »

As fish farming causes more harm to local environments, he said the trend is moving toward raising fish offshore, which is expensive in terms of energy costs. The AirWec would be able to generate enough clean energy to power everything from the fish cages to the control system, he said.

The product was tested in January in New England, and funded through a $30,000 grant from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and $100,000 in equity. The company has applied for an additional $100,000 in grants to continue testing and come up with a second generation AirWec that’s cheaper and more efficient, Ceberio said.

The company’s second product, branded the SurgeWec, has a panel that activates a pump to convert the kinetic energy of waves into pressurized seawater, Ceberio said. That seawater can be used as an integrated solution to drive a desalination system.

The device, which is in proof-of-concept stage, is awaiting potential U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) stimulus funding that would be used to help adapt it for a desalination system. The company is seeking $1.2 million from the DOE and $700,000 from private investors, Ceberio said.

Such a process could be especially useful in developing countries that are facing water scarcity issues or don’t have access to electricity. The company plans to enter the market first in South Africa, where it has an interested undisclosed potential customer, willing to finance the system, Ceberio said.

Resolute Marine Energy wouldn’t be the first to look to Africa for wave power. In 2008, Tel Aviv, Israel-based SDE Energy and Desalination signed a 25-year agreement with an undisclosed African country to build wave energy projects with a total capacity of 100 megawatts (see Israel's SDE plans 100MW of wave energy for Africa).

The two-person company, including Ceberio and serial entrepreneur and CEO Bill Staby, relies heavily on advisers at Cambridge, Mass.-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology for technical expertise and research.

In the next couple years, Ceberio said the company would be looking for about $3 million to take its proof-of-concept with the desal system to more commercial applications, followed by $20 million for production ramp up.

He added that Resolute Marine Energy's direct wave energy conversion competition includes Australian companies such as Oceanlinx and Ceto. But these companies have large-scale goals whereas Resolute Marine Energy is targeting small communities, it said.

Oceanlinx said it has developed proprietary technology for extracting energy from waves and converting that energy into electricity, or to provide desalinated potable grade water from seawater. It announced plans in 2008 to install a 2.7-MW wave energy project off the northeast coast of Maui (see Marine power project proposed in Maui).

Resolute Marine Energy is one of 27 potential new investment opportunities the Cleantech Group added to its innovation pipeline this week, available exclusively to members of its Cleantech Network. Members can click here to search the database.

Interested in emerging cleantech innovations? Here are two new companies added to the Cleantech Group's database this week also looking for funding:

• Westlake Village, Calif.-based Uriel Solar is an early-stage developer of a new photovoltaic cell structure that uses molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to achieves grid parity by delivering 18 percent efficiency at $0.59 per peak watt, according to the company. Uriel is seeking $1 million in seed funding to develop its prototype. The company said its sustainable competitive advantage is the fact that the MBE technology is a derivative of 20 years and $10 billion of military research in understanding mercury cadmium telluride for large focal-plane infrared arrays.
• UK-based Waste2Tricity is seeking $3.5 million to build a pilot program to achieve proof of concept on existing gasification plants. The company is developing what it said is an efficient municipal solid waste and commercial waste-to-electricity process that integrates plasma gasification with stationary fuel cells as a way of increasing the amount of electricity that can be derived from thermal processing of waste.

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