Born from an idea of the University of French Polynesia, at the end of 2021, the TWEC (Tahiti Wave Energy Challenge) project was selected and presented at the Blue Climate Summit in May 2022.

Its form evolved since then and the new demonstrator project has been taken over by Ys Energies Marines Developpement to carry it out until its completion in co-construction with the local population.

The objective of the demonstrators is to prove in real conditions that it is possible to produce electricity from wave energy to collect initial feedback from its inhabitants and on the particular context of the territory.

In the summer of 2022, Ys launched a Call for Expressions of Interest to international wave technology developers. 

« We received 11 applications », explains Bruno LEMORT, Technical and Operations Director at Ys Energies Marines Developpement. This was followed by a pre-selection process through workshops with the builders: « we had to ensure that the technologies were adapted to the approached areas to carry out this first installation.”

Indeed, with more than a hundred wave energy developers worldwide and almost as many technologies, it was necessary to verify the compatibility of technologies with the Polynesian environment: depth, inclination, typology of the seabed (volcanic rock, corals), distance to the coast.

Following these exchanges, Azura Wave Power and CalWave were definitively selected to deploy their wave production unit.