MAR 04

Orecon, a British wave energy company, has just pulled in a huge round of funding in preparation for their first installations in 2010. The company has developed a large buoy, 40 meters in diameter, that will float a few miles offshore. The buoy will be tethered to the sea floor in six places, and the rising and falling of the waves will power on-board generators.

The first installation is expected to produce about 1.5 megawatts, or about as much as a medium-sized wind turbine.

Wave power has been plagued by regulatory problems and battles with the fishing industry. But the biggest problem has been the weather. The buoys have to be placed in areas that have continuous high seas, but they also have to be able to handle storms in those same areas.

Start-up Finavera showed that the technology had a bit of work ahead of it for sea-worthiness when its 40 ton AquaBuOY sank off the coast of Oregon.

Nonetheless, the high seas contain a tremendous amount of energy that, if inexpensively harvested, could produce a substantial amount of power to the most populated regions on Earth.

Via Earth2Tech

Comments (4)

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Most wave power hardly better than wind
written by kent beuchert, March 05, 2008

The problem with most wave machines is that they are just as primitive and and almost unreliable as windmills. Only a select few have the sophistication and ingenuity to produce electricity that any consumer would actually want to buy - those pump water ashore, not electricity, and then use hydroelectric technology to produce dispatchable (valuable, reliable, controllable) electricity. The days when some greenies can convice simply by claiming non-carbon output is long gone. Those primitive technologies will have to compete and either improve or fail. Wind is failing right now. No one today thinks that 1) wind is a powerful source of energy - moving water contains 850 times more energy
than moving air, folks. 2) wind cannot displace ANY fossil fuel plants because each year there is a need for more peak demand capacity and wind power cannot
meet ANY peak demand. It is totally unreliable. End of story for crappy wind (and photovoltaic as well).

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written by chris j, March 16, 2008

The ocean is the best place to look for emerging solutions to the worlds problems. It's about time that we stopped landlocking our ideas when there's so much blue water out there that desperately needs our attention. Industry currently focuses on explotation of the world's oceans and if we completely destroy the rain forest we'll still have the ocean's biodiversity and power to harness. I don't promote or condone the destruction of any natural resource but it may happen as a result of our shortsightedness. Ocean currents and waves are the best place to focus R&D for future power, food, and travel options.

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Finavera Is Coming Back...
written by Christian R, April 02, 2008

Finavera has entered into a contract with electricity giant PG&E. They will produce commercial wave energy up to two megawatts (2MW) for the progressive power company.

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Consistency of waves vs. other renewable
written by Brooks, October 24, 2008

It seems to me that any new addition of alternative, renewable energy is important. But, one of the notable advantages of wave power over wind and solar is that it produces energy more consistently. This consistency can mean that it produces more energy. You may want to see the argument along these lines on Debatepedia's wave energy pro/con article.

http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Debate:Wave_power

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