Surf’s Up – With Renewable Energy

An inland surf park in the UK powered by renewable energy opened on the weekend – and there’s also one in Australia not far behind.

The Wave, the UK’s first surf lake, opened in Bristol on the weekend.  Using Wavegarden Cove technology, the 180-metre long lagoon’s wave generator is capable of creating up to 1,000 waves per hour ranging from 50cm to almost 2m in height. Under normal operations, a new wave will be generated every 8-10 seconds.

While it doesn’t appear to be mentioned anywhere on the website, the facility is being powered by 100% renewable energy via Ecotricity.

“From the outset of this project 8 years ago we had always said that we must be powered by renewable energy,” said Chris Hines, Head of Sustainability at The Wave. “It would be simply unacceptable for relatively comfortable UK surfers to surf waves powered by fossil fuels which would contribute to climate change and specifically sea level rise and acidification of the oceans.”

Ecotricity will also be supplying The Wave with electric vehicle charging points and advising on the future installation of solar panels at the facility.

Another The Wave surf park is expected to be opened in London in 2023.

Urbnsurf Tullamarine Opening Soon

Closer to home, Urbnsurf’s surf park at Tullamarine in Melbourne is getting closer to commencing commercial operations.

The $40 million facility on Airport Drive also uses Wavegarden Cove technology. Solar panels will be installed across the facility (total capacity unknown) and according to Urbnsurf founder Andrew Ross, the search is on to secure a long-term renewable electricity supply contract for the wave generator.

Filling of the 22,000 square- metre lagoon began earlier this month and took four days to complete. Over the last couple of weeks, commissioning of the wave generator nicknamed Roary has been under way.

The first waves will be ridden by “test pilots” next month and the facility is expected to open its doors to the public during Summer 2020.

Another Urbnsurf project in the works is at Sydney Olympic Park, which will also be powered by renewables. Construction should commence early next year and it’s anticipated Urbnsurf Sydney will open in the summer of 2021/2022.

Powering facilities such inland surf parks with renewables isn’t just an environmentally responsible thing to do, it can also make very good business sense – particularly in Australia. As we recently mentioned, City Of Sydney council’s decision to source all its electricity from wind and solar energy sources will see it save around half a million dollars a year.