Oregon Wave Energy News

State rides a new wave in energy alternatives
Power in Pacific - Two projects planned off Oregon's coast would harness ocean motion to generate electricity

NEWPORT -- It's no secret that the central coast boasts some awesome waves. Just ask the surfers who ride here every day. What may not be so obvious is that the waves possess the potential to provide electricity to the Oregon coast and then some.

Now researchers are moving to elevate the rugged oceanfront tourist spot to a world-class leader in alternative energy.

In the past two months, a private company and a local government have become the first in the nation to seek federal approval to build wave energy projects, one off Reedsport and another off the Lincoln County shore. There are no other wave projects in the United States and only a few in the world, though other countries are also studying the technology.

"Oregon is a sweet spot for wave energy," said Roger Bedard, ocean energy leader with the Electric Power Research Institute, a Palo Alto, Calif., nonprofit organization that researches energy and the environment.

The state gets good wave action because global winds blow west to east. "As the global winds blow over a long stretch of water, the waves get bigger and bigger and bigger," Bedard said. "The storms off the Sea of Japan and the Gulf of Alaska bring big swells into the Oregon coast."

Oregon also has a good power grid on the coast -- unlike Washington, which also has good waves but comparatively few electric transmission lines to its coast, he said.

Another advantage in Oregon is that politicians, regulators and residents recognize that many struggling coastal communities need another industry, Bedard said. "Instead of sending our dollars to the Mideast to buy their energy, we use our own indigenous energy. It's a win-win," he said.

Waves generate electricity through motion, said Annette von Jouanne, an electrical engineering professor at Oregon State University working to establish one of Oregon's wave projects.

Von Jouanne and her colleague, the late Alan Wallace, developed several wave energy buoy prototypes that contain a magnetic shaft and electric coils. As the waves roll in, the motion moves the coils up and down the shaft, generating voltage that produces electricity. Insulated cables in the water would bring the electricity to shore.

The potential is tremendous, von Jouanne said. "It is estimated that if two-tenths of a percent of the oceans' untapped energy could be harnessed, it could provide power sufficient for the entire world."

In Oregon, estimates indicate waves could produce a potential of about 14,000 megawatts of power, Bedard said. If wave energy devices were placed on only a quarter of the coast and extracted 40 percent of the power available in the waves, they would produce enough electricity for 1 million homes, he said.

So far, the United Kingdom is considered the leader in wave energy, Bedard said. Wavegen, with headquarters in Inverness, Scotland, became the first to connect commercial-scale wave electricity to the grid six years ago. The technology is also being developed in Australia, Italy, Norway, Japan and Portugal.

In Oregon, New Jersey-based Ocean Power Technologies filed a pre-application permit in July with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a commercial wave project off the coast of Reedsport. Company officials didn't return calls, but said in a statement that the project would initially generate about 2 megawatts of electricity from buoys in a wave park about 2.5 miles off the coast and anchored in water about 165 feet deep.

After that, the company plans to seek approval for a full-scale 50-megawatt power plant. For comparison, a typical natural gas power plant in Oregon has a generating capacity of 550 megawatts.

Last month, Lincoln County commissioners also filed a pre-application permit to study the entire county coast as a potential site for OSU's national wave energy research and demonstration center.

The idea is for researchers to come from all over the world to test their wave devices, von Jouanne said. The cost to launch the center is estimated at $5 million, which most likely would come from federal sources, she said. The center may also generate wave energy for commercial use, she said.

But first, the county and Ocean Power Technologies must get through the federal permitting process. They have three years to study the sites and report back. Once the permitting process is complete, they must seek licenses.

Typically, the permitting and licensing procedure can go on for five to seven years, said Greg McMurray, marine affairs coordinator with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. But the state is working with federal regulators to find ways to speed up the process -- possibly doing it in two to three years, he said.

"The state wants to be perceived as being progressive, as being a leader in green energy and being a leader in research and development," McMurray said. "The sooner we get this green energy going, the sooner we are going to be able to use it."

Monday, September 04, 2006
Source: LORI TOBIAS
loritobias@aol.com
The Oregonian -- Oregon Live
Š2006 The Oregonian

FairUse
                                                                                                          top of page

                                          Sustainable Life Info Copyright © 2005-2009 DLH Business Associates.
                                                                                                                                 All rights reserved.