WAVES OF OCEAN ENERGY

Ocean Energy Concepts Proliferate
Tom Banse, November 17, 2010 (KUOW-NPR Oregon)

"…[M]arine energy developers love [the Oregon Pacific Coast but the]…alternative energy sector has been slow to coalesce around one technology…Unconventional ideas are…[proliferating]…

"…Huge waves crash against the jetties at the mouth of Tillamook Bay…One company is thinking about redesigning these jetties with electricity generators built inside…[so that when] waves crash or hit against this device, water…runs into the back where the turbine is…[I]t’s very similar to a hydroelectric dam…[Water] flows through and drives a turbine…"

click to enlarge

"Stephanie Thornton is the American program director for the aptly named Norwegian company Wave Energy AS. Thornton describes her industry as in its infancy. It’s a period of great experimentation with a panoply of creative technologies…[E]conomics may be the key issue…

"…[For] every failed pioneer company about two new startups show up on [the Oregon] coast…[Scottish firm] Aquamarine Power is one of several new foreign companies scouting…Aquamarine rep Theresa Wisner recently described her firm’s near shore device… the Oyster…[as] a very large mechanical flap resting on the sea bottom…[An ocean wave] forces the top of the Oyster down onto some pistons…[that force] water into a high pressure water line that goes ashore to a Pelton wheel…generating electricity…"

The Principle Power floating turbine (click to enlarge)

"…Seattle-based Principle Power…[has] plans for a floating wind farm offshore…Salem-based startup, M3 Wave Energy Systems…relies on wave pressure passing over air-filled pillows on the sea floor. The pulses compress air, which can then be used to spin an electric turbine…First to connect to the grid will likely be a bobbing buoy generator next year…[T]he floating wind farm also seems plausible near term because wind power is [a mature technology]…

"…[M]any fishermen and crabbers…remain skeptical of ocean energy…[who fear having] fishing ground taken…Electric generation attached to a jetty is the only idea that wins [their] favor…"