The sea power has become energy at the Port of Los Angeles

Floating Blue Paddles dance on the waves that dock at the harbor of Los Angeles, converting the power of the ocean into usable electricity in silence.

This innovative installation could hold one of the keys to accelerating the transition from fossil fuels, which scientists say, to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

“The project is very simple and simple,” Inna Braverman, co-founder of Israeli startup Eco Wave Power, told AFP.

When it appears to be a piano key, the floater rises in each wave.

They are connected to a hydraulic piston that pushes biodegradable fluid through a pipe into a container filled with accumulators, resembling a large red scuba tank.

When pressure is released, the turbine generates current is rotated.

If the pilot project convinces California authorities, Braverman wants to protect the port with hundreds of floaters that will cover the entire 13-kilometer (8-mile) breakwater and produce enough electricity to power 60,000 US homes.

Advocates of technology say that the energy in waves is infinitely renewable and always a reliable source of electricity.

Unlike solar power, which produces nothing at night, or wind power, which depends on the weather, the ocean is constantly moving.

And there are a lot of them.

Tough technology

According to the US Department of Energy, waves on the West Coast of America could theoretically power 130 million homes.

However, wave energy remains a poor relationship between other well-known renewable energies and has not been successfully commercialized on a large scale.

The history of the sector is filled with company wrecks and projects that are sunk by the brutality of the high seas. Developing devices robust enough to withstand the rage of waves while transmitting power to the shore through underwater cables has proven impossible so far.

“99% of our competitors chose to install them in the middle of the ocean, where they are very expensive and are constantly disassembled, so we can’t really get the project to work,” Braverman said.

With a retractable dock mounted device, the entrepreneur believes she has found the answer.

“If the waves are too high to handle the system, the floater will rise upwards until the storm passes, so there is no damage.”

The design appeals to Krish Chiagarajan Charman, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst University.

“The Achilles heels of wave energy lie in the cost of maintenance and inspection,” he told AFP.

“So, have your device close to the shore. Here you can walk over the breakwater before inspecting the device, which makes a lot of sense.”

Sherman, who is not part of the project and whose lab is testing various wave energy equipment, said the project tends to suit small demand, such as power supply for remote control islands.

“This eight-mile breakwater, that’s not a common thing. It’s a rare opportunity, and a rare place where such long wavefronts can be used to create force,” he said.

AI power demand

Braverman’s Eco Wave Power is already thinking ahead, identifying more sites in the US that could be suitable for similar projects.

The project predates Donald Trump’s administration, but even before Washington’s political environment opposed renewable energy, the company was already watching it across the US.

In Israel, up to 100 homes in Jaffa Port have been carrying waves since December.

By 2026, 1,000 homes should be online in Porto, Portugal, with facilities planned in Taiwan and India.

Braverman dreams of a 20 megawatt project. This is the key ability required to provide power at a rate that can compete with wind power.

And she said the facility would not harm local wildlife.

“There is zero environmental impact. We are already connected to existing artificial structures that are obstructing the environment.”

These promises resonate in California. In California, the Energy Commission highlighted the potential for wave energy to help the nation achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.

“The amount of energy we are consuming is only increasing with the age of AI and data centers,” said Jenny Krusoe, founder of Altasea, the organization that funds the project.

“So the faster you can move this technology and put the coastline down, the better it is for California.”

©2025 AFP