We had an exclusive interview with Inna Braverman CEO of Eco Wave Power $WAVE on Benzinga's Market Edge Live this morning. Inna Braverman is an Israeli entrepreneur and businesswoman. She is the co-founder and CEO of Eco Wave Power, a renewable energy company with a patented technology for the generation of clean electricity from ocean and sea waves.
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00:00Ina, hello. Good morning. How are you? Hi, how are you? So we're talking today here about
00:06eco-wave power. Can you tell the group a little bit about what you do before we dive in here?
00:11Of course. So our company developed a unique innovative technology for generation of clean
00:16electricity from ocean and sea waves. So basically, we take floaters and we connect them to
00:21existing man-made structures such as piers, breakwaters, jetties, and other types of marine
00:26structures. And these floaters, they convert the movement of the water into clean electricity.
00:32Okay, that's awesome. I know renewable energy is a huge topic in a variety of different forms. This
00:37seems amazing. You're literally taking the natural movement of the ocean and then converting that
00:43into electricity. Really, really awesome. Let's start with your recent financial performance.
00:49The quarterly results that you released recently, in your most recent quarter,
00:53there was strong growth in certain areas of the business. What do you attribute the success to
00:58here? And how do you plan to maintain that momentum going forward? So I think that really
01:05what kind of created the most interest was our newest partnerships. So all our power stations
01:14that we're building right now are being done in collaboration with large-scale entities. So on
01:18December 5th, in three days actually, we're opening the first grid-connected power station
01:23in the history of Israel here in Jaffa port. Then right after that, in Q1 of 2025, we are
01:31planning to open our first US-based power station in collaboration with Shell. Shell is investing 50%
01:37of the cost of the project to be followed by a power station in Taiwan with Leontat, our partner
01:43there, and then the first commercial power station for eco-wave power and for the world in the city
01:48of Porto in Portugal. So I think really we're having a very, very good momentum and I really
01:54attribute kind of the success to the fact that eco-wave power is actually executing wave energy
02:02projects. Until now, all wave energy companies that have been out there in the market were stuck
02:08for a really long time in kind of R&D and computerized simulation and weren't really
02:15executing any projects. And eco-wave power is taking a completely different approach and we're
02:19all into execution. Okay, well that's awesome. So speaking of execution then, I mean I know that
02:26the global energy transition is happening at a rapid pace or at least trying to happen at a
02:32rapid pace and I would imagine that you're going to be on top of that as well. How do you balance
02:36the need for scaling up while maintaining cost efficiency in your operation? So I think
02:44actually that's something that eco-wave power performs really well because
02:48if you're seeing the difference between Q2 and Q3 report, in Q3 we were actually
02:53able to minimize our cost by 10%. Really minimization kind of costs while achieving
03:00so much progress is available due to our strategic partnerships. Most of our assets,
03:05which of course is the most expensive thing in our business, is the asset, is the construction
03:10cost of the power stations, they're not being funded from eco-wave power balance sheets,
03:14they're being funded either in partnership like I said with EDF, or we started kind of a new
03:21way of collaboration where we actually started selling first power stations to third parties. So
03:26the deal that we announced just in October with Taiwan, we're actually making it as turnkey. So
03:31they're buying the solution for us and eco-wave power is profiting on supplying the solution.
03:36And I really believe that in the short term that's a great revenue stream for eco-wave power,
03:40it enables us to be financially independent and not having to go to the market and raise
03:45additional funds and it enables us to also get multiple projects out there faster because the
03:52buyers of this technology are usually large-scale connected, either energy firms, engineering firms
03:58or otherwise, and that really enables us to get the licensing fast, the grid connection approval
04:04fast, the feeding tariff for the energy fast, so then we're basically getting our presence
04:08out there in different locations around the world. Okay, that's awesome and you actually
04:13hit on something that I was going to ask you about, about raising cash, so really great to
04:17see that you don't really need to do that. You talked a lot about some of these partnerships
04:21that you have already, could you share more about any of the partnerships or the collaborations that
04:25have been particularly good for you or particularly impactful to your financial performance or your
04:31technological developments? Of course, so first of all I will address your first part of the
04:35sentence, so eco-wave power actually went public in July 2021 and it's important for me to say
04:41that since July 2021 and until now, which is December 2024, the company never went back to
04:47raise funds from the market, so we never diluted our shareholders. I think this is a big advantage
04:52in eco-wave power because we could really focus on what's important, which is the operational
04:57projects, the strategic partnerships and so on and not really like, you know, market-related items.
05:04Now regarding the partnerships that kind of create the biggest influence, I would definitely
05:09say our partnership with EDF Renewables, the reason for it having such a big influence
05:16is the fact that EDF, which is Electricite de France, the French national electrical company,
05:21they are the largest renewable energy producer in Europe, so for us, once we're
05:28finishing here the demonstration and the testing in Israel, we can also use their contacts and their
05:33kind of financial stability and so on in order to penetrate the European market.
05:39Another market that we're very interested in is the United States. In the United States, we have
05:44an agreement signed with AltaSea in the port of Los Angeles for our first project there
05:48and just two weeks ago we announced that we received the last federal license that we needed
05:53from engineers in order to actually go ahead and construct the project. So Shell is our partner,
05:59they're funding 50% of the project. Same like with EDF, Shell is a huge company with large impact,
06:05so of course we can also use the project in the port of LA to leverage and achieve
06:11additional projects. Then in the same time, we're building the first project in Asia, which will be
06:16in Taiwan with Lian Tat, which is a large marine engineering company, and our first project in
06:22Portugal is actually the project that we're right now leading independently because EcoWavePower
06:27really wants to own and operate the first grid-connected commercial wave energy power
06:33station in the world and we believe this project will really be a significant breakthrough
06:39to the whole industry because in the project so far, we showed that wave energy doesn't have to
06:43be expensive, that it's reliable, that it's easily connected to the grid, but when you're building a
06:48commercial scale project, we can also show profitability and I think this is key for the
06:53breakthrough and wave power to be part of the world's renewable energy mix. Okay, awesome stuff
06:58there and I'll tell you, you're talking right now to a group of active market participants, so
07:03to hear that you're not diluting the investors, that is definitely a plus. Got a really good
07:08question here from one of the viewers here, if you wouldn't mind, is there any plans for units
07:12in the open sea or are you pretty much just focusing on shoreline locations? So we're not
07:18exactly on shoreline, of course, we don't take any prime real estate, we don't take beachfront
07:23properties and so on, we connect to existing structure which is sometimes called onshore,
07:27sometimes it's called nearshore, so it's breakwaters, piers and jetties. As to offshore, we did a
07:33feasibility study for Chevron and we did a feasibility study for Shell for connecting to
07:38offshore oil and gas drilling platforms, so that's definitely a niche market that we can pursue
07:43because there's a high need of energy on these platforms and right now it's usually produced by
07:47diesel, which is both polluting and very, very expensive. I do believe that
07:54learning from wind industry, which is a renewable energy that became very, very successful over time,
07:59the beginning has to be easy, simple and cost-efficient and with the wind industry, from
08:04the moment that the first onshore windmill was built, it took 100 years for the wind
08:11industry to start building in the offshore, like in the middle of the ocean, because offshore it's
08:15more expensive, it's more complicated. Wave energy kind of took the wrong, I would say,
08:23had the wrong beginning in the world because wave energy for some reason decided to start
08:27where it's complicated and expensive, which is in the middle of the ocean, so I'm kind of more a
08:32believer of pursuing what wind did successfully, starting on the onshore where it's simple and easy
08:38and then when we're strong financially, we're strong in terms of supply chain and technologically,
08:44then we will go into the offshore as well. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense and that would make a
08:48lot of sense as a stockholder as well, so okay, really good stuff there. Another question here
08:52from one of our viewers, are you worried about Chinese-Taiwan tensions regarding any part of
08:57your infrastructure at all? And I would actually expand on that, this viewer is mentioning
09:02China-Taiwan, but are you worried about any type of global or macro environment really kind of
09:07disrupting what you're doing? Listen, to be honest, I would say that I believe that technology has no
09:13borders and in the end of the day, it doesn't matter of the conflict, everybody wants to have
09:17renewable energy in place. Absolutely. So Taiwan right now is in a dire need for renewable energy
09:24or for any energy for that part because they're doing the semiconductors industries, which is
09:29critical for the AI business. So definitely Taiwan is a big market for us, but even with the tension
09:36in China, it's important for me to say while we work with Taiwan, we also have a subsidiary
09:41that is located in China, which received funding from the government of China.
09:45So there is interest for good technology everywhere. Okay, awesome and then one more
09:51thing here, I know that this is on the top of minds a lot about anything in the
09:57energy business, excuse me. Renewable energy sector is often subject to policy shifts and
10:02regulatory changes. How does WAVE navigate these uncertainties and how does that affect your
10:07financial projections and your growth strategy? So really policies and regulation are critical
10:15for commercialization, especially of innovative technologies. We're not at the point that wind
10:21and solar and other kind of, I would say older and more traditional renewable energy technologies
10:26are, where kind of the price of their system started decreasing significantly. So the government
10:31started changing, like removing their supportive policies and removing supportive tariffs and so on.
10:37Right now, eco-wave power is kind of where solar and wind was 20 and 30 years ago in terms of the
10:43policies and the prices. Like most governments, they understand that they cannot supply 100%
10:48clean electricity to their citizens solely with wind and solar. So they want WAVE energy to
10:52commercialize, so they're actually giving very supportive legislation and policies. For example,
10:57just recently Governor Newsom in California signed a law that's called Senate Bill 605
11:02for support of WAVE energy and Congresswoman Nanette Berragon wants to appropriate $1 billion
11:09in funding to WAVE energy as a federal legislation. So basically, right now we're seeing a very,
11:15very positive shift in legislation, a very positive kind of recognition for WAVE energy
11:20on a global scale and we hope it continues. But with that said, for me it's also very important
11:25to say that we never built our technology to be dependent on subsidies. So even right now,
11:30at the current prices that are for solar and for wind in any of the locations that we work,
11:34we would still be cost-efficient and profitable. Okay, that's really tremendous as well. Okay,
11:40and then last year, I want to say, as you expand into new key markets, what are the key
11:47considerations that you take into account when selecting a new region for development? What
11:52challenges are you facing when you're trying to expand? So when selecting new regions of
11:58development, we're looking at the, first of all, for us the most relevant is the WAVE energy
12:02potential and the structures that there are that are suitable in that location. Other than that,
12:07of course, we're looking at the supportive policies and what is the legislation, what is
12:10the regulation, how long will it take us to get from an initial agreement to an actual power
12:15station up and running. That's kind of what we look at. Right now, our core focus is really on
12:22European market because in Europe, you have already a lot of grants and subsidies and support
12:29for WAVE energy specifically. They kind of started developing it early on. We're definitely very much
12:34focused in the U.S. market. We're even opening offices now in Florida, in Miami, and we're having
12:40the new power station coming in the port of Los Angeles, and we're having discussions with
12:43additional locations in the United States because we see that the momentum in the U.S. is very,
12:47very strong, and we really believe that what happens big in the United States will be big
12:53everywhere because, you know, all the eyes are towards the success stories in the United States,
12:57and right now, we also started penetrating the Asian market with our Taiwanese project.
13:02Okay. That is absolutely tremendous. Ina Braverman, CEO of WAVE Power, that's ticker
13:07W-A-V-E on the Nasdaq. Ina, thank you so much for joining us here this morning.
13:13Have a great rest of your day. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much.
13:16No problem. Take care. Thank you, folks. Awesome stuff there. Again, that is ECO POWER, excuse me,
13:22ECO WAVE POWER GLOBAL. The ticker is WAVE, W-A-V-E. Easy for me to say. Love all of the
13:31renewable energy things that are coming. This one sounds awesome, and I love that they've really
13:35kind of taken a view of not wanting to dilute shareholders and really kind of thinking about
13:41expansion plans and all of that. So really, really good stuff. Shout out to the group here
13:46for coming up with some questions here. Really exciting, exciting stuff. Okay.