Sept. 18, 2025 7 AM PT
To the editor: Wave motors are an previous story right here in California (“First onshore wave energy project in the U.S. launches in Los Angeles,” Sept. 10). Earlier than that stunning seaside city of Manhattan Seaside acquired its current title, folks called the area Potencia, or “energy,” after an Nineties wave motor plant that didn’t dwell as much as expectations.
Throughout the subsequent decade in 1907, Henry Huntington constructed his large Pacific Gentle and Energy Firm plant in north Redondo Seaside on the border with Hermosa. The plant burned oil to provide electrical energy to run his huge railroad empire.
That very same yr, on the south finish of Redondo, Fred Starr of San Francisco constructed a wave motor which, he claimed, would produce as a lot energy as Huntington’s plant and be soot- and smoke-free.
Had the Los Angeles Wave Energy and Electrical Firm been a hit 118 years in the past, local weather change may not be taking place at its present fee. However, just like the initiatives in Potencia 4 miles to the north, the Redondo Seaside wave motor was a disappointment.
Let’s all hope the Eco Wave Energy is a hit.
Douglas Thompson, Hermosa Seaside
