A team of researchers is conducting a feasibility experiment in wave power generation at a port in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, after building a power plant for the trial.
Rheem Chang-Kyu, a professor at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science, and a team from the institute and other organizations developed a process for wave power generation, which is expected to be a new source of energy using the power of the ocean.
Power is generated in the offshore plant through an 8-by-3.5-meter board that is placed in the sea and moves like a pendulum with the force of the waves. Waves of 1.5 meters or higher can produce 45 kilowatts, according to the team.
Rheem and his team installed the first such structure in January 2016 in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture, and transmitted power to a facility in the fishing port. The power plant in Hiratsuka is the second plant. The board for catching the waves was improved upon by making it with aluminum and rubber in order to reduce its weight and quadruple its surface area, so that even small waves can generate electricity.
The experiment is scheduled to run until February next year, and the institute hopes to commercialize it in future.
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