HAWAII TO RIDE WAVE ENERGY

Wave energy has so much potential Maui is looking past the high initial costs. And they are high. $20 million for a 2.7 megawatt system. Oceanlinx may lose money on this, its first commercial installation and potentially the first U.S. commerical installation. Maui has a 20 megawatt $4 million biomass option and a $1 million per megawatt add-on to an existing plant option. But the higher the price of oil, the more appealing the great potential of wave energy seems.

The proposed Oceanlinx system appeals to Maui Electric Co. (MECO)’s President Ed Reinhardt. Maui knows the power of the ocean as well as its problems - the salt build up, the wear and tear of ceaseless jostling, the endless erosion. MECO is backing the Oceanlinx generating buoy over a wide variety of others. It seems to have solved the seal problem that caused a failure off the Oregon coast last year in the U.S.’s only wave energy trial to date. Reinhardt: “We believe it’s a workable system…”

Each 100-foot-long, 1-megawatt buoy is a welded steel box containing the control mechanisms. A complicated geometry makes it highly buoyant. Waves push air through the buoy’s turbine at 250 mph and then fall away. Electricity is generated on both motions. There is only one moving part. The buoy is moored by cables at each of 4 corners. A seafloor connection has sensor and switching mechanisms to transfer the power to the onshore substation.

Before it is asked: Noise is the same as a city street. The buoy sits too far out to sea and too low to spoil ocean aesthetics significantly. Seabirds might be affected by the air movement. An environmental impact study is pending.

Mauians pay one of the highest U.S. power rates. Wind has been serviceable but its intermittency has been costly. A 30-megawatt installation generates about 8 megawatts in Hawaiian wind. These 3 megawatts of wave energy will produce 2.5 to 2.7 megawatts of real power, shutting down only in very high swells or dead calms.

So far, Mauians seem to like the idea of getting in at the beginning of an energy breakthrough.



Wave power site proposed
Harry Eagar, February 5, 2008 (The Maui News)
and
Boaters back wave energy generator
Harry Eagar, February 8, 2008 (The Maui News)

WHO
Oceanlinx Ltd. (David Weaver, Executive Chairman), Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, Hawaii legislature, Maui Electric Co. (MECO) (Ed Reinhardt, President), Hawaiian Electric Co. alternative energy subsidiary Renewable Hawaii Inc.; Maui Trailer Boat Club

The generators are anchored at 4 corners for stability. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
Oceanlinx will install 3 wave energy boys off Maui to generate 2.7 megawatts of power for MECO. Maui boaters are accepting of the project.

WHEN
- Oceanlinx and MECO hope to have the system online by 2009.
- Oceanlinx has had wave energy prototypes since 2002.
- Gov. Lingle praised the project February 1.

Maui's north coast.

WHERE
- The wave energy buoys will be off the northeast coast of Maui, a half-mile from the Pauwela Point lighthouse. The location was chosen because it is partially shielded from the most intense swells.
- The undersea cable bringing the power to a substation would come onshore at Kuiaha Bay, aka Shark Bay. It will pass under the bay’s reef and come up through conduit on a cliff above.
- The generators, fabricated in Asia, will be assembled in a Honolulu dockyard.
- Oceanlinx Ltd. is based in Australia.

The buoys are positioned well offshore, out of sight. (click to enlarge)

WHY
- Oceanlinx has asked for funding from the state via a $20 million special purpose revenue bond but Oceanlinx is willing to assume the cost. It is offering the state the opportunity to participate.
- The buoys will supply 1% of Maui power. No purchase agreement has yet been made.
- To the delight of Hawaiian fishers, Oceanlinx describes its buoy as “a magnificent FAD (fish aggregating device)” like the ones used to attract the fishers’ big predator/prizes. There will be “caution” signs on the buoys but fishers and divers are welcome in the area. Screens will keep birds out.

The Maui Trailer Boat Club ramp Oceanlinx will help fix. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Dr. Peter Kalish, Oceanlinx, on the company’s promise to repair the deteriorated Maliko boat ramp as a means of winning favor with the Maui Trailer Boat Club: “It would be our pleasure… for us it’s more important to get the locals to create a working relationship.”
- Capt. Brian Stewart, excursion boat skipper: “I’ve got to congratulate you on the site choice, in the bay by the edge is much better…”
- Kalish, on approaching the buoys: “There is no danger…[Even if a diver or a dolphin goes where the water enters] nothing would happen.”