Romana Food Brands Corp (RFBC)

[ess]

The force of crashing waves can generate huge amounts of energy.

But there’s a catch: how do you develop technology that can withstand the sea’s harsh environment with minimum disruption to the ecosystem?

One Israeli-based company, Yam Pro Energy — believes it can offer the ideal solution and is set to build a wave-energy plant on the coastline of Accra, Ghana’s capital city.

Wave technology is an endeavor that has recently been trying to catch up with the likes of solar and wind energy.

It exploits a resource — the oceans — that covers 71 per cent of our planet, it’s environmentally friendly, mostly cost-free once set up and it could be revolutionary to coastal countries.

“There’s so many wave power companies and as many different devices, so finding one that actually works best is trial and error,” said Mark Jacobson, who is a Stanford University professor and director at The Solutions Project, a company which aims to help the world move to 100% renewable energy.

However, Yam Pro Energy says its innovative technology is the “best choice in renewable energy systems.”

The machinery will utilize the crashing waves to harvest hydraulic pressure and turn it into electricity.

“It was easy,” laughed Yam Pro Energy’s CEO, Zeev Peretz. “We negotiated (with Ghana) for many years, but in the end we succeeded.”

“The demand (for energy) is very big and I think it will help people (improve) their life.”

“Floaters” will be connected to wave breakers on the coastline and will bob up and down as waves crash in.

Peretz said their technology was much more efficient than other renewable energy sources because it can generate 6 percent of energy per year, compared to solar panels and wind turbines which generate between 22-24 percent.

“The rest is heat and just waste,” Peretz said.

The advantages of wave power, the company argues, is that their machines do not emit pollution, waves are more predictable than other renewable sources and despite the original set up being costly, the running and maintenance costs are low.

“If the waves are too high we are given forecasts days ahead which helps to analyze the situation,” Peretz said.

While construction in Accra won’t begin until well into 2017, Yam Pro Energy has already secured the coastline to build its power station. It has also teamed up with local partners, secured its power purchase agreement (PPA) from the local electrical company and has been given space on the grid so it can sell the energy produced.

Peretz said 10,000 households will benefit from the project.

http://www.phillytrib.com/ap/international/could-ghanaian-waves-become-the-next-big-renewable-energy-source/article_77f6654f-8c5d-5ca2-9535-67cc0e693049.html