Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) have invented Sindhuja-I-an “ocean wave energy converter” that can generate electricity from sea waves.
About Sindhuja-I
- The trials on the converter were completed in the second week of November 2022.
- The device was deployed at a location about six km off the coast of Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, at a site with a depth of 20 metres.
- This system has a floating buoy, a spar, and an electrical module.
- The buoy moves up and down as the wave moves up and down. In the present design, a balloon-like system called a ‘buoy’ has a central hole that allows a long rod called a spar to pass through it.
- The spar can be fixed to the seabed, and passing waves will not affect it, while the buoy will move up and down and produce relative motion between them.
- The relative motion gives rotation to an electric generator to produce power. In the present design, the spar floats, and a mooring chain keeps the system in place. Researchers expect to commercialise the innovation by 2024.
Benefits
- The move could offer substantial gains for islands such as Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar, which can produce 40-50 Gw of wave energy.
- India has a 7,500 km long coastline capable of producing 54 Gw of power, satisfying a substantial amount of the country’s energy requirement. Seawater stores tidal, wave and ocean thermal energy, making the harnessing of 40-Gw wave energy possible in India.
- IIT Madras aims to use the converter to generate 1 Mw of power from ocean waves in the next three years.
- If successful, this project will help fulfil several objectives such as the UN Ocean Decade and sustainable development targets, and India’s own goals such as deep water missions, clean energy and blue economy.
- Nations like the US, UK and Israel are generating energy through this route. However, this is for the first time that the technology is in the process of being proven in India.
- The project received funding support through the “Innovative Research Project” of IIT Madras, TBI-KIET under the Department of Science and Technology’s Nidhi Prayas Scheme and Australian Alumni Grant Scheme 2022 of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government.
