People on land were grappling with flooded homes, closed roads, and landslides.
CorPower claims its tech is at least five times more efficient than the previous state-of-the-art.
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Thats only enough to supply around 1,000 homes.
And the Swedish venture believes its technology has what it takes to do just that.
This vital organ only uses energy when it contracts and pushes blood out and into the body.
To suck blood back in, it simply relaxes, pumping blood in two directions from one action.
Over the years that followed, the doctor-turned-inventor schemed elaborate ways to put the pump to good use.
In 2011, he teamed up withMoller, atech entrepreneur,andfounded CorPower Ocean.
It measures 18 metres high, 9 metres across, and weighs about 70 tonnes.
This then drives a generator, producing power which is transferred to shore via a subsea cable.
In 2004, the giant red sea snake-looking machine became the worlds first grid-connected wave energy equipment.
Pelamis went on to build several more of the 1,350-tonne behemoths.
But the companys success was short-lived.
The companys remaining wave energy converters are now little more than scrap metal.
Pelamis is largely symbolic of an industry that has struggled with commercial viability, says Al-Habaibeh.
Frenchman Girard filed the first patent for a wave energy converter back in 1799.
Most never broke out of the lab.
Thats largely because testing a wave energy machine in real-world conditions is incredibly expensive.
Building one that can cost-efficiently produce electricity and withstand ocean storms and saltwater corrosion?
Thats never been proven over the long term.
In a separate announcement in September, the Biden-Harris administration opened a$112.5mn funding callfor wave energy tech.
Europehas invested over 375mn in ocean energy R&D over the past 10 years.
While the continent is still the world leader in wave energy, the US and Chinaarecatching up fast.
Scaling up
CorPower now looks to replicate the success of its pilot on a much bigger scale.
Once up and running, this would be the worlds first commercial wave farm.
CorPowers ultimate goal is to deploy clusters of C4s that combined will produce up to 30MW of clean electricity.
In pursuit of the magic number, CorPower is taking a nimble, high-tech approach to manufacturing.
The company wants to be able to produce a single hull in just 48 hours.
An inflection point in wave energy?
Will that come to pass?
Only time will tell.
But if any of todays wave energy technologies has a genuine shot, its probably the C4.
Story bySion Geschwindt
Sion is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy.
