WAVE ENERGY NOW

There are 47 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-permitted trial wave/tide/current energy projects. None is presently sending electricity to the grid. There have been at least 2 failed trials. Right now, costs are enormous. But the seductive promise of all that regular predictable freely flowing energy is undeniable.

For current energy, there should be no aesthetic objections or interference with ocean transport since the turbines and generators will be far below the surface. Wave energy buoys are typically on the surface but not high enough above it to cause aesthetic objections. Ships will have to steer around them.

Some research reports say the potential of wave/tide/current energies is not more than 6.5% of U.S. power and will never be as cheap as today's coal-fired power plants. But those reports may not have imagined how really huge the wave/tide/current potential is. And the inconvenient truth of climate change means an emissions reductions cap-and-trade system will soon be in place and coal-fired power plants will no longer be nearly as cheap as today's coal-fired power plants.

Myke Clark, spokesman, wave energy producer Finavera Renewables: "[Wave energy is] definitely not the only answer…[but]… part of the energy mix…"

That’s right, Myke: Wave/tide/current is the emissions-free, endless, predictable part of the energy mix immediately adjacent to the biggest population centers.

Problems? Current energy’s “cuisinart effect” may be one: Fish could be diced and sliced. And bottom fishers (lobster, crab, etc.) don’t like wave and current farms because the turbines and transmission represent competition for the ocean floor.

Nick Furman, executive director, Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission: "We've got a limited amount of flat sandy bottom on the Oregon Coast where we can put out pots and where we can fish, and the wave energy folks are telling us they need the same flat, sandy bottom…It's not the 10-buoy wave park that has the industry concerned. It's that if it's successful, then that park turns into a 200- or 400-buoy park and it just keeps growing."

That’s exactly the point, Nick – If somebody’s wave/tide/current technology solves all the riddles and makes building 200- to 400-generator parks cost-effective, the crabbing industry's $150 million-per-year will seem like pocket change compared to the billion dollar potential of the New Energy source and crabbing will have to move over immediately.

The energy potential of the Gulf Stream is massive. (click to enlarge)

Oceans Eyed As Energy Source
Brian Skoloff, February 14, 2008 (AP via Time Magazine)

WHO
Scientists, researchers and energy entrepreneurs; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC);

WHAT
Scientists, researchers and energy entrepreneurs are investigating the potential of wave, tide and current energies. FERC has granted 47 permits for measurement and experimentation.

Florida's time frame. (From a Florida Atlantic University presentation - click to enlarge)

WHEN
- A test turbine will be placed in the Gulf Stream off Florida’s coast within months.
- There are presently no wave energy projects sending electricity to the grid.
- A test buoy in Oregon sank last fall.
- An East River current test turbine broke a blade last year.

WHERE
- The Gulf Stream, 15 miles off the Florida coast and 30 miles wide, flows nonstop at 8.5 billion gallons per second and could provide a third of Florida’s electricity.
- Projects are under development on coasts everywhere (ex: Oregon, Maine, Hawaii, California, the UK, Australia)
- The first commercial installation is likely to be the one just announced off Maui or one just beginning testing in Washington but planned as commercial scale off Northern California.

The Finavera Renewables wave energy buoy. Still testing. (click to enlarge)

WHY
- The Florida Gulf Stream could generate as much electricity as 10 nuclear plants. Florida Atlantic University Center of Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology has a $5 million research grant to develop turbines to harvest the Gulf Stream current.
- West Coast researchers are focusing on wave energy. Finavera Renewables will soon place 4 35-ton buoys in a Washington state bay and then a small “wave farm off Northern California.

Schematic to show how the Finavera buoy works underwater. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Frederick Driscoll, director, Florida Atlantic University Center of Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology: "We can produce power 24/7…[The Gulf Stream is] the best location in the world to harness ocean current power…"
- David White, Ocean Conservancy: "We understand that there are environmental trade-offs, and we need to start looking to alternative energy and everything should be on the table…But what are the environmental consequences? We just don't know that yet."