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Renewable energy, led by solar and wind combined with battery storage, along with hydro and geothermal projects, is the fastest-growing source of new electricity generation in the U.S., helping to wean the grid from greenhouse gas-spewing fossil fuels. The clean power arsenal could soon grow with another form of natural energy: ocean waves.

Last week, Stockholm-based startup Eco Wave began operating the first wave-based electric power project in the U.S. at the Port of Los Angeles. It’s a series of seven steel “floaters” attached to a wharf that act like a bellows as the waves push them up and down, which pumps a hydraulic cylinder that spins a turbine to make electricity. For now, it’s just a demonstration project, but founder and CEO Inna Braverman wants to eventually construct a 60-megawatt commercial-scale version along an 8-mile breakwater in the harbor that could supply enough electricity to power 60,000 homes.

A benefit to wave-generated power is that it’s constant, unlike wind or sunshine. “Wave energy is the most stable and the least intermittent source of renewable energy. In suitable locations, it can actually produce 24/7,” Braverman said at the opening of the pilot system last week. “It can be a stabilizing factor for solar and for wind because solar is great, but you have the night, you have cloud coverage and you don't produce anything. The wind blows for a few hours, but when the wind finishes blowing, the turbine doesn't work anymore.”

Though Tidal energy has been studied for many years, Eco Wave and other companies are only beginning to test how well it delivers in real-world conditions. Certainly, U.S. researchers think it could be quite impactful. “The theoretical annual energy potential of waves off the coasts of the United States was estimated to be as much as 2.64 trillion kilowatthours, which is equal to about 63% of total U.S. utility-scale electricity generation in 2023,” according to the Energy Information Administration.

It may take years for Eco Wave or other ocean power companies to scale up, but the Los Angeles pilot joins projects already underway in Taiwan and Portugal, with India also looking at the technology. New Jersey is likely to be the next U.S. site for an Eco Wave project, according to Braverman. Because it’s new, there aren’t yet clear regulations for ocean-based power systems and there’s likely to be a need for extensive environmental assessments to ensure large future systems don’t harm aquatic life.

Braverman said that Eco Wave’s biggest challenge isn’t technological but legal. “There is a lack of a regulatory framework in the United States and everywhere else in the world because wave energy is so new,” she said.

California’s legislature is moving ahead with plans to provide as much as $20 billion in additional funding for the state’s financially challenged high-speed rail system, which will help complete the initial Central Valley portion and start work connecting it to San Francisco and Los Angeles. The move comes as the

© Forbes