Wavebob,an Irish company seeking to produce electricity from the action of ocean waves, is setting up its American offices in Annapolis, Gov. Martin O?Malley announced Tuesday.
“North America was an important market for us,” said Derek Robertson, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who is the company?s director for the Americas. Maryland has “some unique capabilities that have not been fully exploited,” particularly the mix of public and private universities and federal labs that could aid in the continued development of the product, Robertson said.
Wavebob chief executive Andrew Parish said commissioning week for the academy was an appropriate time for the company to be making its first step out of Europe as it moves through the innovation cycle to the commercialization stage. Wavebob is privately held, but its partners include Chevron.
The Wavebob technology uses two massive buoys, one floating from a donut-shaped device on the surface, and the other tethered to the ocean floor. The wave action of the seas moves the buoys up and down, producing hydraulic power and then converting it to electricity.
A Wavebob prototype is currently operating in Galway Bay off the coast of Ireland.
Parish said the company would ideally be placing perhaps a couple of hundred floating stations, about four times larger than the prototype, five to 10 kilometers off the west coast of land masses to take advantage of the ocean action produced by the prevailing westerly winds.
Parish said the goal is to have the machines built as close as possible to their deployment.
Each device would produce about 1.5 megawatts of power, about as much as a large wind turbine but much less visibly.
The company hopes to have 15 employees in place by 2011, with an investment of $10 million locally.
