IIT Madras develops device to generate power from sea waves

The device was deployed at a location about 6 km off the coast of Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, at a location with a depth of 20 metres. It targets generating 1MW of power from ocean waves in the next three years. 

Researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have developed an ‘Ocean Wave Energy Converter’ to generate electricity from sea waves. The trials of the device completed during the second week of November 2022.  

As per an IIT Madras statement, the device was deployed at a location about 6 km off the coast of Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, at a location with a depth of 20 metres. The device targets generating 1MW of power from ocean waves in the next three years, the institute said.  

The success of the project will help fulfil several objectives, including UN Ocean decade and sustainable development goals and India’s goals, including deep water missions, clean energy and achieving a blue economy. It could help India meet its climate change-related goals of generating 500 GW of electricity by 2030 through renewable energy, the institute said. 

IIT Madras has collaborated with a start-up Virya Paramita Energy (VPE) Private Limited, and Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT) Allahabad, for this test. The electrical storage system was designed by GKC Institute of Engineering and Technology and MCKV Institute of Engineering, West Bengal, while Waterfront Engineering and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd assisted in deploying the system in the ocean. 

The IIT Madras device is targeted towards remote offshore locations that require reliable electricity and communication either by supplying electric power to payloads that are integrated directly in or on the device or located in its vicinity as on the seabed and in the water column. The targeted stakeholders are the oil and gas, defence and security installations and communication sectors. 

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