PREDICTABLE, RELIABLE, AND ALL WET

The article has a very useful, detailed breakdown of companies and projects. Click through.

Marine energy can be forecast
Paul Davidson, April 19, 2007 (USA Today)

WHO
Utilities and energy investors. PG & E is studying California. Verdant Power is working NYC’s East River. Ocean Renewable Power is working Florida. Ocean Power Technologies is working Oregon. Ocean Power Delivery is working Scotland’s Orkney Islands. Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative and GE Energy Financial Services are interested in buying.

WHAT
The virtually endless and unstoppable forces of wave energy, tide energy and current energy, captured with turning turbines, floating buoys and writhing oblongs.

WHEN
Widespread use is perhaps 10 years off. NYC East River program started up December, 2006. Portugal launches this summer. Oregon permitted. Potentially 10% of all US power in 50 years.

WHERE
Portugal: The first commercial wave farm in the world. East River, NYC: The first (pilot) tide-driven generator. Oregon: The first wave-energy project large enough to feed a utility’s demands. 21 preliminary permits, 35 pending, West Coast, New England Coast, Florida Coast.

WHY
Tidal turbines can produce 40 times the power of windmills because of water’s greater density, producing greater force. Tides, currents and waves are far more regular and predictable than winds. (Inconsistency and intermittency are factors making investors reluctant about wind and solar energy.) Waves have been studied so thoroughly that the amount of energy which can be farmed is established (and higher on the West Coast than the East). Equipment at or below water level also escapes aesthetic objections. The durability of the equipment is improving to meet the harsh environments where it is placed. Regulatory uncertainties are still troubling.

QUOTES
- Hal LaFlash, Pacific Gas & Electric's renewable-energy director: "If I know it's not always there, I can make certain other plants are there to back it up…"
- Ocean Power Technologies CEO George Taylor: "As a young guy in Australia, I did a lot of surfing, and you get used to the mechanical force in the waves that toss you around, and you realize there's an enormous amount of energy out there…"
- Kevin Watkins, vice president of the Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative: "Because of its location, it will be relatively easy to integrate into our system…"