If you find yourself in the Australian port city of Albany and spot a humongous yellow machine bobbing in the waves of King George Sound, don’t be alarmed. It’s just a generator prototype making a case for renewable wave energy.

Developed by the University of Western Australia’s Marine Energy Research Australia knowledge hub, the device is called the Moored MultiMode Multibody (M4) Wave Energy Demonstration Project.

Following the machine’s launch ceremony last week, the plan is to operate it for six months (starting later this month) and gather data on how efficiently it generates energy. An even larger model will subsequently be built and deployed on the high seas.

The M4 demonstrator spans a massive 79 feet (24 m) in length and is nearly 33 feet (10 m) wide – approximating the length of an average wave within King George Sound. It consists of a hinged […]