'Wave to energy' takes wings again

‘Wave to energy’, a project that was experimented at Vizhinjam in the coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram about two decades back, is one once again taking wings.

A one-megawatt wave to energy plant is being conceived as part of the Vizhinjam port being set up by the Adani Ports in association with the Kerala government.

Adani Ports chief executive officer Rajesh Jha said that once commissioned, it would be the first wave power project of the country.

The project would highlight the huge potential that Kerala has in the field of the wave to energy owing to the long coastline, he said while speaking at a Kerala Startup Meet organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.

Jha later told DH that a private firm working in the field of power generation has mooted the proposal to set up the plant on a pilot basis. The plan is to sell the power generated from the plant to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). Vizhinjam port would require about 10 megawatt power, which it would have to take from KSEB, he said.

KSEB chairman N S Pillai said that KSEB would be purchasing power from the proposed wave to energy plant if it was offered at affordable rates. The KSEB would not be directly involved in the setting up of the project.

A wave to energy project was piloted by the centre at Vizhinjam in 1991. It was set up as a study conducted by the IIT Madaras in 1983 which suggested Vizhinjam as one of the spots ideal for the project.