MAKING WAVES ON THE JERSEY SHORE

Hydrokinetic is the great word used to describe wave, tide and current energies with which electricity is generated.

Some authorities believe the U.S. could generate 10% of its grid power from its hydrokinetic resources.

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI): "[Hydrokinetic energy is]probably the last of the large natural resources not yet investigated for producing electricity in the United States..."

EPRI also pointed out hydrokinetic technology is still in its earliest stage of development and could be one of the most environmentally benign methods of generation.

Estimates vary on how far away hydrokinetic energy-generated electricity is. Some say as soon as 2009 or 2010 and others say not before 2012 or 2013. Most agree it is a very real factor in the near-term energy picture.

Projects are more advanced in the UK and Portugal.

Only one U.S. commercial license for the technology has so far been granted: A Canadian company is planning to develop a wave energy installation off Washington state but it has so far been unable to effectively get its buoys into the water.

Roger Bedard, a hydrokinetic expert at EPRI, says New Jersey's Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) is leading the field and expects OPT to be the 1st in the U.S. to launch a commercial-scale project.

George W. Taylor, OPT's co-founder, says he can now generate electricity for ~5-to-15 cents/kilowatt-hour. That is very close to the 4-to-7 cents/kilowatt-hour rate usually attributed (by the International Energy Agency) to installed natural gas and coal.

(Experts point out that comparing already-installed Old Energy to new New Energy is an unfair comparison. The price of most NEWLY-INSTALLED Old Energy today - because of materials-costs and impacts-costs - is not much less than the price of most NEWLY INSTALLED New Energy. New Energy installations are built much faster but often require new transmission. Old Energy requires serious insurance but little new transmission.)

In the U.S., the East Coast's continental shelf is wide and broad. It is ideal for building offshore wind installations but too shallow for good quality wave energy production. The West Coast's continental shelf is short and falls quickly away to deep water, making it ideal for the development of wave energy.

Hydrokinetic energy - though capable of becoming a potent economic force and energy resource - has its detractors. There is opposition from the fishing industries. They fear impacts on the ecology that sustains the sealife from which they draw sustenance. And there is opposition from environmentalists concerned with disturbances to the seabed, altered onshore erosion patterns, and potential harm to fish, bird and whale habitat.

Hydrokinetic energy developers are working with their opposition to reach mutually acceptable procedures.

It is a classic dilemma: Generating energy on a large scale inevitably has impacts. The only choice is which ones.

Or choosing a life without large-scale energy. That would be interesting, but even Freedonia is not so inclined.

The OPT technology. From sytestorage via YouTube.

Riding the waves; The ocean offers hope for green energy, and a New Jersey company is among those developing technology to harness that power.
Sandy Bauers, September 15, 2008 (Philadelphia Inquirer)
and
Wind-Power Politics
Mark Svenvold, September 12, 2008 (NY Times)

WHO
Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) (George W. Taylor, cofounder); Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) (Roger Bedard, hydrokinetic expert); Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) (Celeste Miller, spokeswoman)

WHAT
OPT’s PowerBuoy is preparing for its first “wave farm."

click to enlarge

WHEN
- 2005/2006: FERC issued 4 3-year preliminary permits for testing hydrokinetic projects.
- 2007: FERC issued 33 preliminary permits for hydrokinetic projects.
- 2008 (so far): FERC issued 77 preliminary permits for hydrokinetic projects.
- Possibly 2009: After 2 years of testing, OPT has proven itself and awaits final approval to be the 1st commercial wave energy project.
- OPT was conceived in the mid-1970s, started in 1984, launched its 1st buoy in 1997, listed on the London stock exchange in 2003 and Nasdaq in 2007.

WHERE
- Hawaii and Spain: Commercial buoys will be launched within weeks
- Around the world: Projects are in the works.
- Europe is ahead of the U.S.
- Projects are developing on U.S. rivers (The Mississippi, several Alaskan waterways, off Manhattan).
- 1st commercial project could be off Reedsport, Ore (10 OPT buoys)
- OPT buoy is designed to work in ~150-ft depths where waves have 90% of their energy. (In 50-ft depths, the sea bed has absorbed it.)
- OPT, based in Pennington, N.J., is conducting tests off N.J.’s Long Beach Island.

WHY
- Companies are using preliminary permits to reserve swaths of ocean.
- FERC is scrutinizing permit requests more strictly, obtaining more details.
- Most permits: For harnessing river flows.
- Ocean waves have more potential b/c (1) they can generate electricity near demand (~half the world population lives within 50 miles of a coast), (2) waves are more dense than wind, (3) wave buoys are low, hardly visible from shore and cause fewer aesthetic objections, (4) are more constant.
- OPT’s founder Taylor is a 74-year-old engineer. He became interested in wave energy as a young surfer growing up in Australia.
- OPT's PowerBuoy requires at least 4-ft waves, has proven capacity with 22-ft waves, automatically shuts down in storms.
- OPT has 50 employees, raised $130+ million in 2 IPOs, has a $1.7 million Navy contract to power an underwater acoustic detection system.
- Other designs under development (Wave Dragon, Anaconda, Oceanlinx) are undulating, snake-like forms and huge in-water ramps that catch the force of waves.

click to enlarge

QUOTES
- Keith Tymchuk, mayor, Reedsport (Ore): "The time has come for us to test this method of generating what seems to be very green electricity…"
- George W. Taylor, cofounder, OPT: "We believe we're going to be the lowest of the renewables…probably even lower than fossil fuels, the way prices are going."