Stonehenge to deploy Protean WEC off California

Stonehenge Metals has partnered up with California Polytechnic University (Cal Poly) to deploy a staged ocean wave energy and energy storage micro-grid project at Cal Poly Research Pier, off California.

The project is expected to be a staged deployment program, planned to start during 2016, with the temporary deployment of the Protean wave energy converter (WEC) in the ocean, Stonehenge Metals’ press release reads.

This first buoy deployment is the initial stage of the program to test seaworthiness and assess the environmental impact of the Protean WEC off the coast of California.

The agreement to deploy a wave energy project in the USA is in addition to Stonehenge’s planned 30-buoy demonstration wave farm off the coast of Bunbury, Western Australia and the planned commercial pilot wave farm in the Maldives, at Hanimaadhoo Island.

The Cal Poly Pier, located at Avila Beach, is approximately 1 km long and operates as a marine research facility providing students, faculty and researchers with access to the marine environment.

This project is in addition and complementary to the agreement already in place with Cal Poly for a joint application for $1.5 million of funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to fund Cal Poly’s CalWave project, in which Stonehenge acts as a team member and technology contributor.

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Image: Protean Wave Energy