PICKING A WAVE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY

Oregon is rapidly consolidating leadership in the New Energy sector. It is moving so fast, the state almost seems like a corporate raider closing in on ownership.

Despite having only average solar assets, it is using its magnificent environment and ideal location adjacent to Pacific shipping and California metropolitanism to build its "silicon forest” of solar manufacturing facilities. (See SOLAR SPRINGS FORWARD THIS FALL)

Oregon’s biggest New Energy assets are just off its coasts. Because experts believe hydrokinetic energies might someday generate as much as 20% of world power needs and 10% of Oregon’s power needs, the state is also building its knowledge base in wave, tide and current energies.

With its newly U.S. Department of Energy-funded Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center based at the Oregon State University (OSU) Hatfield Marine Science Center and its well-established Wallace Energy Systems and Renewables Facility at OSU, Oregon is poised to begin building wave, tide and current energies as soon as each version of hydrokinetic technology reaches maturity. Mastery of the engineering will, it is expected, lead to a mastery of manufacturing and production in the field.

Presently, wave energy generators range in size from bobbing buoys a few feet above the ocean’s surface to cylindrically-shaped 1-megawatt devices 50 feet wide and 100 feet long.

Many developers and entrepreneurs are waiting until research centers and pilot projects settle on the dominant hydrokinetic technology, the analogy to wind power's industry-standard 3-blade turbine. Some academics are beginning to believe that will not happen in this field. Because ocean environments are so radically different, very different systems may be needed as waters and climates vary.

How will the Marine Renewable Energy Center’s $13.5 million in funding (from the Oregon legislature, OSU, the Oregon Wave Energy Trust, the University of Washington and other sources, as well as DOE) be used?

In addition to ongoing research such as the study of the environmental impacts of hydrokinetic energy, the Center will create a wave energy test facility in the heart of Oregon’s coastal wave power for the use of academics and private developers.

Other research needed: Energy production, buoy technology, commercial scaling, maintenance needs, reliability issues.

Predicted commercial applications: In Europe, one commercial-scale pilot project is installed (in Portugal - see THE FIRST WAVE FARM IN THE WORLD) and others are in development. The Oregon projects are generally thought to be at least 1-to-3 years away.

The technology just proved at OSU. (click to enlarge)

Wave energy device test is successful
October 13, 2008 (Portland Business Journal)
and
Successful Ocean Test Advances Wave Energy Research
October 13, 2008 (Oregon State University)

WHO
Columbia Power Technologies, Oregon State University (Annette von Jouanne, an OSU professor of electrical engineering), U.S. Navy; the Oregon Wave Energy Trust

WHAT
A $1 million research project at OSU has achieved another plateau, completing the ocean testing of 1 of the 5 “direct drive” wave energy technologies selected as “most promising.”

What the generator looks like in the water. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- Over the past year: Tests 18 different “direct drive” wave energy technologies narrowed the field to 5 choices.
- September 2008: One prototype tested successfully.
- 2-to-3 years: Commercial use.

WHERE
- Oregon could develop seven wave parks using just 1/3 or 1% of the state’s 600-square-mile coast.
- OSU hydrokinetic energy research areas: New technologies, biological/environmental impacts assessments, site evaluation, outreach to coastal communities/interest groups.
- The DOEfunded Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center test facility will be at Newport, Oregon.

WHY
- OSU identified 18 direct drive technologies that eliminates the need for hydraulic systems and could, therefore, be more efficient and ocean-durable.
- OSU narrowed the 18 to the 5 most promising. 1 is now tested.
- Researchers think wave energy generators can, even in harsh ocean environments, have a 20-year lifespan if, like offshore wind turbines, they are regularly maintained.
- Oregon, calculations show, could get 10% of its electricity from wave energy by developing 7 50-to-100 megawatt wave parks, each 3 miles long and 1 mile deep (3 square miles). That would be ~1/3 of 1% of the state’s 600-square-mile coast.

What it looks like out of the water. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Ted Brekken, assistant professor of electrical engineering, OSU: “Our latest test went exceedingly well…The buoy produced significant power, the hydrodynamic behavior fit our expectations and design, the placement and deployment went smoothly and we got a large amount of data to further evaluate.”
- Annette von Jouanne, professor of electrical engineering, OSU: “We may find that the best system is different depending on the need for low, mid-range or high power production…One might work best for commercial wave parks, while others could be better suited to local use by coastal communities or even small power devices that run sensors or self-powered buoys.”