The approach is designed to address a challenge facing AI infrastructure: power availability. As AI factories, edge systems, robotics and autonomous technologies expand, electricity demand is increasing quickly, while new grid capacity can require lengthy permitting, transmission upgrades, land access and major investment.
“Wave energy is one of the largest renewable energy sources that exists,” said Inna Braverman, cofounder and CEO of Eco Wave Power. “Everybody wants it, but nobody can do it, so I looked at the current problems with harnessing wave power and I asked: How do we simplify it?”
Eco Wave Power’s system is built around the idea that wave energy can be deployed near coastal demand centers, including ports, industrial areas and future AI infrastructure sites. The article notes that seawater is roughly 800 times denser than air, allowing smaller wave-energy devices to generate significant power compared with wind systems.
The company’s use of NVIDIA technology comes in two main areas. Before installation, NVIDIA Omniverse libraries are used to create digital twins that simulate wave activity, floater behavior, deployment layouts and operating conditions. Those models can help engineers test designs and reduce deployment risk before hardware is installed.
Once the systems are operating, NVIDIA accelerated computing and AI tools support predictive analytics, anomaly detection, environmental forecasting and maintenance planning. AI models can analyze ocean conditions, equipment performance and power output to help improve efficiency and reliability.
Eco Wave Power is also applying AI to the way computing workloads are managed. In a data center pilot at the Port of Los Angeles, software is being used as a control layer to schedule compute tasks based on expected wave output. When stronger waves are forecast, more demanding workloads can be assigned to those periods, while lighter tasks can be handled when energy generation is lower.
“We have a possibility to link AI factories directly to wave energy, because a lot of data centers are moving toward the coast,” Braverman said. “They need cooling and water, so they’re now located in ports.”
The Port of Los Angeles pilot is intended to demonstrate how wave-generated electricity can serve as the sole power source for a data center without drawing from the existing grid. The project reflects a broader idea: energy-aware computing, where workloads are adjusted around renewable power availability rather than assuming constant supply.
Eco Wave Power already operates projects in Jaffa Port, Israel, in collaboration with EDF Power Solutions and the Israeli Energy Ministry, and at the Port of Los Angeles with AltaSea and Shell. Additional projects are under development at the Port of Leixões in Portugal, Suao Port in Taiwan and Mumbai, India, with Bharat Petroleum.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that wave energy could produce more than 60% of annual U.S. energy consumption. Despite that potential, wave power has remained difficult to commercialize because of engineering challenges, particularly around keeping equipment safe in harsh marine conditions.
Eco Wave Power’s design attempts to avoid that failure point by keeping critical hardware on land while using coastal structures that already exist. That could make deployments more practical in ports and other waterfront locations where power demand is growing.
“Wave energy is the least intermittent source of renewable energy,” Braverman said. “Solar energy — for example — is great, but you have night, winter, cloud coverage and pollution that all impact production. With wave energy, you can generate around the clock.”
For AI infrastructure, the significance is not just generating cleaner electricity, but aligning compute with local renewable supply. If the Port of Los Angeles pilot proves effective, it could show how coastal data centers might use wave power as part of a more flexible energy strategy.
“We exist, we work, we’re grid connected and we have so much of this resource,” Braverman said. “The energy is needed now, so I think we’re in the right place at the right time and we’re innovative, but we’re not futuristic, and that’s what sets us apart.”
This analysis is based on reporting from NVIDIA.
Image courtesy of Eco Wave Power.
This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy and quality.
