A demonstration project to harness energy from ocean waves at the Port of Los Angeles received the go-ahead from the LA harbor commission on Thursday, March 27.

AltaSea, San Pedro’s marine research campus, will carry out the planned two-year Eco Wave Power pilot program at Berth 70 in the port’s Outer Harbor. Eco Wave Power is a tenant. Eco Wave is a Swedish company founded in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2011, according to its website. It has developed a patented, cost-efficient technology for turning ocean waves into green electricity.

It will be the first U.S. pilot program that tries to capture energy from waves using an onshore power station.

The port granted the needed coastal permit at its regular meeting and AltaSea is projecting a start date in June. The equipment was ordered Thursday.

Terry Tamminen, CEO and president of AltaSea, told commissioners the effort grows out of state Senate Bill 605, which AltaSea supported in 2023, opening the way to harness wave power for green energy.

More than 30 companies are seeking to bring the technology to California, Tamminen said.

“This will be the first demonstration (project) in California,” Tamminen said, “and it’s exciting to have it right here in the Port of Los Angeles.”

The project, Commissioner Lee Williams said, will be “a great opportunity for the Port of Los Angeles to leverage our relationship with AltaSea.”

Eco Wave Power signed the agreement with AltaSea in 2022 and the project was laid out at a public gathering at AltaSea in 2023, celebrating the company’s formal tenant status in the marine research campus.

Along with the coastal permit, the project needs licensing and buy-in from Los Angeles agencies, including the departments of Building and Safety, and Water and Power.

The project, port officials said, would not conflict with any land-side plans at the end of Signal Street. The project location is across from the AltaSea campus, 2451 Signal St., and near Warehouse One, 2500 Signal St., sitting at the waters’ edge in San Pedro’s south Outer Harbor.

Most of the wave project involves using floaters in the water that will be connected to the front of a wharf base. Small hydraulic pipes or tubing would connect to two shipping containers on the edge of the land-side portion of the project area, leaving the backlands open and available, port officials said.