Israel’s Yam Pro Energy signed a partnership with Indian business conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group to begin production on the world’s first commercial-scale wave energy power station in Ghana.
The $180 million station, located along the coastline near the capital city of Accra, will be designed to generate up to 150 megawatts.
“We are very excited today reaching such a substantial milestone as one of the largest EPC [engineering, procurement, construction] companies in the world is giving confidence in our technology and company and are willing to start a cooperation in Ghana,” Yam Pro’s joint CEOs, Zeev Peretz and Laser Rothshtein, said in a statement. “We are hoping this will be a start of a global cooperation with SP that we can together revolutionize the energy market around the world.”
Yam Pro’s Ghana power station will benefit 10,000 households, Peretz told CNN. The project will be completed in stages over the course of three years, with an initial phase beginning at 10 megawatts.
While solar and wind power technologies also play a major role in Ghana’s renewable energy development, Yam Pro says the advantages of wave energy are its inconspicuous devices, availability around the clock, and ability to generate a thousand times more kinetic energy than air.
Yam Pro’s technology utilizes the force of crashing waves to turn hydraulic pressure into electricity. Floating devices attached to breakwater structures off the shoreline are pushed up and down by the waves, generating pressure. The energy is transferred onshore using biodegradable hydraulic fluid. Some 90% of the infrastructure is built on land, making the system easier to build, operate and maintain.
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