BY UTILIZING the energy of sea waves, a new Cebuano invention provides an “environment-friendly” solution to Cebu’s power shortage.
This invention, called the Noro Wave Power Barge (NJ-8), is a long barge that will be anchored on the seaside, where it will absorb sea movement.
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The sea waves move the power barge’s rotating mechanism to generate energy either in mechanical or electrical form.
The barge has numerous counter-balancing wave-actuated arms that drive its Flywheel Energy Reservoir System and provide stability in its operation.
It took Consolacion-based engineer Noro Camomot one and a half years to conceptualize, plan and design the renewable energy machine.
Prize
His efforts paid off as his creation bagged second prize in the recently concluded Visayan Island Invention Exhibit Festival organized by the Department of Science and Technology.
Camomot is now planning to approach companies engaged in power, such as the Aboitiz Power Corp. He hopes they will assist him in producing the prototype of the machine.
He said he is open to investors who want to address the demand for power in the country, particularly in the Visayas region, through renewable energy.
“NJ-8 is environment-friendly. It does not produce sound, smoke or oil. It has an unsinkable design. There is also no need for an energy storage system. It operates by floating on the sea with waves as low as four inches or as high as 36 inches,” he said.
The NJ-8 Power Barge design can be expanded for huge power capacities.
In an interview with Sun.Star Cebu yesterday, Camomot estimated that a small NJ-8, around 20 to 30 meters long, will need around $60,000 in investment in order to produce about 30 kilowatts of electricity.
Priority
Since the law on renewable energy in the country allows priority dispatching of renewable energy to the power grid and gives consumers options for their power supply, he estimated that the return on investment with NJ-8 would be around three years.
“It will develop the huge source of renewable energy, which is more stable and (has) year-round availability, night and day.
The NJ-8 utilizes the country’s unused clean energy source,” he said.
He also recommended that an NJ-8 be placed on the seaside of the South Road Properties, which is unused and has strong waves.
Camomot believes that his power barge is the first in the country, making it a potential tourist attraction in itself.
He added that the invention’s way of absorbing wave energy and generating power provides advancement in the fields of wave power technology and renewable energy technology in the country.
Apart from being an independent renewable energy power producer, the Noro Wave Power Barge could also be used as a power source to remote islands and coastal areas as well as for coastal lighting, among others.
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