PUBLIC-PRIVATE WAVE ENERGY IN JAPAN

UK OPT joins Japan's 1st wave power plant group
Nao Nakanishi, October 8, 2009 (Reuters)

"Ocean Power Technologies Inc (OPT) has signed an agreement with a consortium, including Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co Ltd, to develop the first demonstration wave power station in Japan.

"George Taylor, OPT's executive chairman, [said] the group planned to build the station next year or early in 2011. It would involve up to three of OPT's PowerBuoys, which convert wave energy into electricity…Taylor would not disclose capital investment required for the plant, which was likely to be located in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of northern Japan."

PowerBuoy (click to enlarge)

"The Japanese consortium also includes Idemitsu Kosan Co, Japan's third-largest refiner, and Japan Wind Development Co Ltd , which primarily develops and operates wind farms…Taylor, who is also a founder of the company, said the project was supported by the Tokyo government. He declined to say if it would receive financial support.

"The project might use its 40 kilowatts (KW) buoy, known as PB 40, which had been tested since 1997, or a bigger, new 150 KW version, or PB150, which was to be deployed at European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Scotland next year…[The OPT wave energy converter] floats in the ocean and feeds electricity via underwater substations and underwater cables into the power grid onshore."

From systestorage via YouTube

"…[The trial plant is expected to] provide the basis for a commercial-scale OPT wave power station with an initial capacity of at least 10 megawatts (MW) -- enough to power up to 3,000 households in Japan.

"…[OPT has] enough money for investment after raising 23 million pounds ($36.96 million) through its listing in London in 2003 and another $100 million through listing in New York in 2007…[The company is] working to scale up the capacity of the PowerBuoy to 500 KW, which was expected to be in the water in a couple of years…[Costs are expected] to come down to around 15 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour…[when] about 400 units of [the] PB150 device have been produced]."