Science Centres: Energy
A NEET solution
How are your emissions?
New project to develop wave energy device
How are your emissions?
NIWA has acquired the Accuscan RSD4000EN remote sensor and will be putting it to work for the Auckland Regional Council in October and November.
A NEET solution
A project run by NIWA’s Māori Development Unit, Te Kūwaha, aims to improve the lives of people in two rural Māori communities through the use of New and Emerging Energy Technologies (NEET).
Te Kūwaha is working with the communities at Waihi (Lake Taupo) and Waipoua (Northland) to assess the potential for solar, wind, and hydro energy at both sites; for geothermal at Waihi; and for wave energy at Waipoua.
So far, future possibilities for Waihi include development of a micro-hydro system and selling the power to the national grid.
New project to develop wave energy device
We are working with Industrial Research Ltd and Power Projects Ltd on a complex project to develop a prototype device to generate electricity from open water ocean waves.
It only takes a passing familiarity with New Zealand’s coasts to appreciate the immense power contained in ocean waves, but this is not an enterprise to be entered into lightly. The wave energy generator must survive in a harsh, corrosive, constantly moving environment.
There needs to be enough energy to make the device economic, but not too much so that it is destroyed.
