CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Researchers have developed an ‘Ocean Wave Energy Converter’ that can generate electricity from sea waves. The trials of this device were successfully completed during the second week of November 2022.

Detailed explanation-2: -Vizhinjam wave energy plant This led to the establishment of a 150 kW Pilot wave energy plant in 1991 at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Vizhinjam wave energy plant was the world’s first wave power plant working on oscillating water column (OWC) technology.

Detailed explanation-3: -History. The first known patent to extract energy from ocean waves was in 1799, filed in Paris by Pierre-Simon Girard and his son. An early device was constructed around 1910 by Bochaux-Praceique to power his house in Royan, France. It appears that this was the first oscillating water-column type of wave-energy device.

Detailed explanation-4: -Shortly before the turn of the 19th century French inventor Girard obtained a patent for a machine he and his son had designed to mechanically capture the energy of ocean waves, to power heavy machinery including mills and pumps.

Detailed explanation-5: -IIT Madras and a Visakhapatnam-based startup titled Virya Paramita Energy (VPE) have a joint development agreement to commercialise the technology. How does the technology work? The resultant product is called ‘Sindhuja-I,’ which means “generated from the ocean".