1ST U.S. WAVE PROJECT TO OREGON

Oregon is first U.S. site for a wave-power farm
Tracy Loew, February 17, 2010 (USA Today)

"…Construction has begun off Oregon on what would be the nation's first commercial wave-energy farm, said Sean O'Neill, president of the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition, a Maryland-based trade association that promotes marine energy. It is planned to supply energy to about 400 homes…

"Wave power draws from the energy of ocean surface waves, according to Phil Pellegrino, spokesman for New Jersey-based developer Ocean Power Technologies [OPT], which is developing the project…A float on a buoy rises and falls with the waves, driving a plunger up and down…The plunger is connected to a hydraulic pump that converts the vertical movement into rotary motion, driving an electrical generator. Electricity produced is sent to shore over a submerged cable, he said."

The Ocean Power Technologies PowerBuoy. (click to enlarge)

"The first [OPT] buoy will measure 150 feet tall by 40 feet wide, weigh 200 tons and cost $4 million…Nine more buoys are planned to deploy at a site in Reedsport, Ore., by 2012, at a total cost of $60 million…

"Some don't believe wave energy can work, said Onno Husing, director of the Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association…The world's first commercial wave farm opened in 2008 off the coast of Portugal, at the Aguçadoura Wave Park, Husing said. It ran into financial difficulties last year and was suspended indefinitely…A wave-power device from another company, Finavera Renewables of Canada, sank off Oregon's coast two years ago…Other projects are under development in Spain, Scotland, Western Australia and off the coast of Cornwall, England…"

Ready to put to sea and generate electricity. (click to enlarge)

"Capturing that power is a challenge. The size of waves can fluctuate widely…There's also controversy about impact on the marine environment. Oregon fishers and crabbers worry the project will hurt their livelihoods…Ocean Power Technologies, the state of Oregon, conservation groups, coastal residents and fishers and crabbers have been working for more than three years to reach an agreement on how the ocean will be shared…

"The Oregon project is being funded by Ocean Power, the U.S. Department of Energy, Oregon tax credits and money from the Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative…Because the technology is still being developed, wave power costs five or six times as much as wind power…[but experts believe] wave power eventually will be competitive with other alternative power sources, because waves are more predictable than either wind or sun…"