NoviOcean, saving the climate with profitable wave power
This slogan is our way of saying that NoviOcean will be an economically viable way to produce sustainable electricity from ocean waves.
Our Purpose
The density of water is roughly 800 times more than air. In simpler terms, moving water holds 800-fold kinetic energy compared to wind blowing at the same speed! Also, the extractable energy from waves is about 4 times more than wind power and as much as 20 times more than solar PV cells for the same area...
With oceans covering more than two thirds of our planet’s surface and despite wave energy’s enormous theoretical potential of more than total current global electricity production (according to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC) [1], one might wonder why this powerful source of renewable energy has been so far mostly untapped. According to International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) [2], the estimated levelized cost of electricity (LCoE) for wave energy technologies is expected to be in the range of 330-630 EUR/MWh for demonstration projects, with projections of 113-226 EUR/MWh for 2030 when taking economies of scale and learning into account.
This is still too expensive compared to already established green electricity alternatives. The NoviOcean team have strong reasons to believe that NoviOcean will be among the very few concepts that soon will make the long-awaited breakthrough in this sector, with a scalability hard to grasp. We have therefore defined our purpose in this regard:
Having a considerable positive climate impact by developing and introducing
a highly cost-effective way to harness renewable ocean energy in large scales.
Our Mission
We offer access to an innovative device aimed to harvest renewable energy from ocean waves in a cost-efficient and sustainable way.
We unlock highly competitive electricity prices never seen before in the ocean energy sector, while offering reliability, security of supply, and high versatility.
We will produce green electricity and hydrogen on site, phase shifted from wind power, at very competitive pricing, selling cheap licenses globally, to make the necessary impact for the reduction of greenhouse gases.
But how can this be possible? By developing a cleantech innovation that is simple and strong, yet light which utilizes well-proven components for over a century. We call this arrangement “Hydro Power Plant at Sea (HPAS)” and have chosen it as our primary strategy going forward.
Novige and Sustainable Development Goals
Novige AB supports and promotes sustainable development goals. Our objective is to contribute massively to a number of SDGs, primarily to SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities), and SDG 13 (climate action) while also intending to have a positive indirect effect to some others. Developers of cleantech innovative solutions should be focused on joining forces to help create a more sustainable future for our children and the generations to come after them. The NoviOcean team is dedicated to facilitating this movement through technology, innovation, teamwork, and dialogue.
This text is solely illustrative and informational and is not intended for the promotion of any products or services or for any fundraising activities in part or in the whole. The sole purpose of this text is therefore to increase the level of public awareness about the degree to which ocean energy can contribute to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) based on our viewpoint.
We, the NoviOcean team, are working hard to help in realizing SDGs. Particularly to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by providing clean and cost-effective technical solutions in the wave energy sector.
Cleantech innovations in the wave energy sector can play a huge role in building resilient infrastructure and boosting the blue economy and sustainable industrial advancements worldwide, by means of improving the investment attractiveness of communities with access to open waters and potential wave array sites. The impact will be especially noticeable if the majority of the parts used for these wave energy converters can be cheaply manufactured locally from common and readily available resources. This, aside from promoting sustainable industrialization of connected industries in the value chain, will facilitate the access of small-scale industrial enterprises to financial services and create more jobs in those regions and neighboring communities.
In line with SDG 11, providing access to affordable and sustainable transport and expanding public transport systems are important steps toward a sustainable future for all. Thanks to people’s increasing attention towards electric vehicles, the automotive industry as well as governments are being increasingly shifted towards alternative transportation and its necessary infrastructures. This movement is also paving the way for more clean energy technologies in the transportation systems of the future, such as using hydrogen gas as fuel. The feasibility of using hydrogen as the primary fuel in other industries such as steel is being currently investigated as well. Therefore, like many others, we also believe that producing cost-effective hydrogen using surplus green electricity can speed up this change toward a carbon-neutral transportation future. We think producing cost-effective hydrogen as a secondary product via wave energy converters can be technically possible.
Our Vision
Ours and third-party extensive calculations show that NoviOcean’s demonstration LCoE will be about 90 EUR/MWh directly from the start! Considerably lower than any other wave energy technology and at the same level as of offshore wind power!
The values get even more interesting when counting for learning curves and economies of scale which can take us to astonishing 25 EUR/MWh, less than 25% of IRENA’s lowest projections and all fossil-based electricity generation technologies! This can help towards an increased global share of renewables in the energy mix which forms our vision:
Contributing to a significant reduction of fossil fuels in the energy sector on a global scale.
Our Strategy
According to IRENA [3], conventional large-scale hydropower has the LCOE of between 18 and 55 EUR/MWh which is typically the cheapest way to generate green electricity among all other sources. About a quarter of global electricity is generated by hydropower even though all lakes and rivers make up for only about 0.02% of water on our beautiful Earth. NoviOcean’s PTO (power take-off) uses a similar principle, but with much less geographical and environmental restrictions compared to conventional hydropower. The potential is immense.
We have infused our two patented concepts (inverted hydro power plant PTO and elongated rectangular floating platform) into our NoviOcean Wave Energy Converter (WEC) to generate green electricity and/or hydrogen from the ocean waves. You can read more about our concept here.
We strive to reach our ambitious goals through professionalism and ethical behavior. We pay special attention to diversity and integrity and our organizational culture is based on respect, equality, and transparency.
Based on SDGs target 7.1, improving the affordability of energy services by lowering the Levelized Cost of Energy has critical importance. Despite prior general belief regarding the unaffordability of wave energy, we are well on our way to proving otherwise. Ocean waves persist for much longer periods, making wave energy a significantly less intermittent source of energy compared to wind and solar. This diminishes the need to use unsustainable energy storage technologies (such as batteries), and while coupled with the right system design and equipment, wave power can potentially act as a reliable, modern and clean baseload supply.
According to SDGs target 7.2, we need to substantially increase the share of renewable energy in the energy mix on a global scale by 2030. We believe that other renewable sources, despite their growth potential, are not enough and there are other almost-untapped renewable energy sources that can be used in pacing up our speed towards this target. Therefore, we try our best to enrich the blue economy by substantially lowering the costs associated with it.
To further improve the green electricity share in the global energy mix, we also believe that innovative and cheap wave energy solutions can substantially help small island developing States since these regions are generally blessed with such resources.
To conclude, there is an urgent need to take prompt action against climate change and its increasingly violent consequences. In order to foster climate resilience and limit or lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide, blue energy will be helpful in developed countries as well as developing countries through international investments, the Green Climate Fund, or other such mechanisms. We need to act today, with more effort than yesterday!
Sources:
1- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2012). Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-1-107-02340-6.
2- International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). (2014). Wave Energy Technology Brief. Abu Dhabi: IRENA.
3- International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). (2019). Hydropower. Retrieved Nov. 4, 2019, from www.irena.org: https://www.irena.org/costs/Power-Generation-Costs/Hydropower