Wave Power

In August 2025, AltaSea installed equipment on a pier at the Port of Los Angeles for a test on harnessing energy from ocean waves. In conjunction with Eco Wave Power, it was said to be the first onshore wave technology ever demonstrated in the United States.

Though it may be the first onshore technology, there were other efforts to harness wave power in Long Beach and other Southern California beach towns over 100 years ago.

Another wave-generating enterprise centered in Long Beach was that of Molander Power Company. Hans Peter Molander came to the United States from Switzerland in 1904, settling in San Diego as a shoe maker. A fire in 1907 changed his life. Instead of rebuilding his shoe business, he took the $1,000 ($34,400 in 2024) he received in insurance to pursue a dream – building a wave generator.

He constructed a model of the machine he had long envisioned, but he was an inventor, not a promoter. He needed help to convince investors his machine was worth their money. He took on G. F. Mander as a promoter, and soon ads began to appear in newspapers asking potential investors to visit his office and see his prototype in operation.

By 1913, he had over 500 investors, and established a plant on the recently rebuilt Fraser Pier in Ocean Park (located between Santa Monica and Venice). With the ability to light the pier and its concessions, Molander received favorable reviews.

The company began to lease out patents on a royalty basis to others in Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, and San Diego. However, in December 1915, another fire destroyed half of Fraser pier. Molander decided to move to Long Beach.

In October 1916, Molander Power Company began construction of a $25,000 ($737,000 in 2024) plant to produce electric power on a commercial basis from wave motor equipment. A large steel wheel, twenty-four feet in diameter, was pivoted in the center reaching half-way above and below the floor on the southeast end of Long Beach’s Chestnut Avenue Pleasure Pier.

On it, a long steel arm was extended to the surface of the water, a paddle, 10x14 feet in dimension was fixed on this extension. With the wash of the breakers, and currents, the wheel was cradled on its pivot, and from the motion, electricity was generated. In the opinion of experts, Molander had overcome the great difficulty of perfecting a transmission clutch, which no other inventor had been able to achieve.

Though still in the experimental stage, in November 1919, Molander was able to provide light for the Silver Spray dancing pavilion (the Cedar and Chestnut piers had been joined together in 1918 to form the new Silver Spray pier) when the electricity in the city went out for more than two hours. A frantic call from the pavilion manager signaled a test run.

Though the sea was calm and the wave motor was scarcely working, there was enough electricity stored in the batteries to have lit the entire pier. However, lighting applications of his wave power was not his goal. He wanted to power factories.

In December 1919, Molander’s wave generator was featured in the magazine Popular Mechanics. It said in part: “Wave motors, designed to utilize the wasted energy of the sea, are usually looked upon as merely a possible future development, and it is not generally known that a successful apparatus of this kind is in actual operation in Long Beach, California.”

The article generated the interest of newsreel producers who filmed Molander’s operation under the caption “First successful wave motor installed in Long Beach, California.” It was great publicity for not only Long Beach, but the Hotel Virginia, which was seen in the background.

With such favorable reviews, the Molander Power Company attracted additional investors and raised capital to expand operations. In March 1921, they announced plans to install a chlorine and caustic soda manufacturing plant capable of making a profit of $150,000 ($2.63 million in 2024) per year. The firm already had a 15-year lease on a part of the Silver Spray pier and this new facility would cover 12,000 square feet of that space.

A process of electrolysis would be used to break up the salt into chlorine and soda. Not having to pay for electrical power, which would be furnished by 12 wave motors, Molander said he would be able to sell his products at an extremely low price. It was expected that within a year after the plant was operational, it would employ at least 50,000 men up and down the Pacific coast. All that was needed was an additional $25,000 ($438,000) in equipment to add to their current inventory valued at $50,000 ($876,000).

But the timing was not right. A few months later, oil was discovered on Signal Hill. Investors now turned their attention, and pocketbooks, away from wave power to oil. A new era of energy production had begun.

More than one hundred years later, that “new era” of petroleum production is facing dwindling resources and environmental concerns. Solar, wind and hydroelectric have been harnessed for power, but perhaps it’s time to reconsider the sea. Hopefully, the new project at San Pedro will be successful and in the future be able to provide power to thousands of homes and businesses. Things look promising.

Recent state legislation, Senate Bill 605, directs California to create a comprehensive road map for wave energy.

Claudine Burnett is a retired research librarian who has written more than 10 books on Long Beach history as well as numerous journal articles. For more, visit her website www. claudineburnettbooks.com.