Turkey will get (by far) the largest wave energy system in the world By: Hidde Middeleweerd Israeli startup Eco Wave Power is likely to build the world's largest wave energy system. The installation has an intended capacity of no less than 77 megawatts and will be located on the Turkish Black Sea coast. The project is worth USD 150 million. It is not yet known when construction will start. It is known, however, that the project will be built in the Turkish port of Ordu and will initially have a capacity of 4 megawatts. The modular system will then be expanded in phases, to a final capacity of 77 megawatts. Less than two months ago, the test phase began for the largest floating installation in Scotland with a capacity of 1 megawatt. The ambitions of the stationary installation of the Israeli start-up are therefore considerably higher. Generating wave energy on the coast Eco Wave Power is working on a wave energy system tied to the coast. This is in contrast to many other start-ups that develop wave energy systems. They focus on offshore systems, because: the further from the coast, the more powerful the waves. But according to Eco Wave Power, offshore systems also have many disadvantages, such as high costs and low reliability (due to the erratic and rough weather conditions off the coast). Recent research also shows that although the waves from the coast are more powerful, the capacity that you can actually use for energy generation is virtually the same as at the coast. New wave energy projects Eco Wave Power is working hard. The company currently has two projects to its name: a demonstration project in the Israeli port of Jaffa and a project in the Spanish region of Gibraltar. The system in Spain currently has a capacity of 100 kilowatts, but is expected to be expanded to 5 megawatts. The pipeline of future Eco Wave Power projects is also substantial: no less than 400 megawatts. Emergence of wave energy Wave energy has a lot of potential. After all, waves are always there and can be used in countless places for energy generation. Ocean Energy Europe, for example, calculated that the European Union can realize 100 gigawatts of installed capacity (up to and including 2050), accounting for 10 percent of the electricity needs of the member states.