The nPower WEC is a commercial scale application of Tremont Electric's nPower kinetic energy convertor, which allows individuals to charge their hand-held electronics from the energy they create while walking, running, or hiking.
The wave converter, however, is about the size of a car and can be integrated into buoys floating on the surface of an open body of water such as Lake Erie, close to Tremont Electric’s base. It contains a magnet that moves along with an induction coil to generate pulses of current as it bobs on the waves. That output is then collected at a transfer hub and exported to the power grid.
nPower WEC inventor and founder and CEO of Tremont Electric, Aaron LeMieux, has high hopes for the device, saying that it could re-purpose the manufacturing base of the Midwest into the clean energy jobs of the future.
"Our vision is to put Northeast, Ohio at the top of the new clean energy economy," says LeMieux. "With the nPower PEG, our consumer hand-held electronics recharger, and now with nPower WEC, Tremont Electric is ready to bring green jobs to Cleveland, today."
LeMieux is confident that his wave converter can become commercially viable and be able to compete with coal-fired electricity, estimating that the nPower’s output could be sold at 5 to 7 cents per kilowatt hour.
"We are proud to put Cleveland, Ohio at the cutting edge of clean energy technology with this new patent," he said. "The nPower WEC is capable of providing commercial scale electricity to the grid from the constant wave motion of major bodies of open water, not just here in the Great Lakes, but in the ocean."
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