Wave-powered navigational buoy launched

The buoy, deployed at Ennore Kamarajar Port here, will help ships, moving in and out of the harbour, navigate through a designated channel. According to NIOT, the buoy’s beacon, for guiding ships, is powered by wave energy, while conventional ones use solar power. The buoy stores energy generated by waves in a battery.Also, the buoy would be able to record data on wind speed and direction and various other aspects, which would be relayed to Port authorities, it said.

The buoy was launched by Secretary, Ministry of EarthSciences M Rajeevan on the eve of the 33rd executive committeemeet of International Energy Agency-Ocean Energy SystemsCollaboration Programme (IEA-OES) and as part of a workshop’Harnessing Energy from the Oceans - A global Scenario’.The meeting, on November 14 and 15 at NIOT, is being held for the first time in India.

Rajeevan, along with Chairman of OES Henry Jeffrey and its Member-Secretary Ana e Brito Melo, also inaugurated an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) desalination test facility at the NIOT premises.

Head of Energy and Fresh Water, NIOT, Purnima Jalihal told reporters that the buoy, designed for a life span of about 15-20 years, is fully indigenous and it costs less than imported buoys.