WAVE POWER 

Wave energy is a renewable, zero emission source of power. As water is about 800 times denser than air, the energy density of waves exceeds that of wind many times over, dramatically increasing the amount of energy available. Waves are predictable days in advance, making it easy to match supply and demand. 

Recent news:

Sept. 27 2011: Wave and tidal power almost ready for mass consumption. Scottish minister Alex Salmond predicts wave and tidal power devices are close to producing electricity for mass consumption for the first time following a surge in investment, The latest wave and tide machines being tested in Scottish waters were expected to become commercially viable by 2015 with several hundred megawatts of installed capacity. Until now, the presumption was that wave and tidal power was still up to a decade away from full-scale production. So far only 1400MW of wave and tidal power have been licensed compared to 7GW of wind power, but while wave power is currently very expensive, by 2020 it is expected to be more competitive than wind. link

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     Below:

• Potential of wave power and research
• UK leading wave power technology
  
• Wave power around the world

The World Energy Council has estimated that approximately 2 terawatts (2 million megawatts), about double current world electricity production, could be produced from the oceans via wave power. It is estimated that 1 million gigawatt hours of wave energy hits Australian shores annually and that 25% of the UK’s current power usage could be supplied by harvesting its wave resource. 

Roughly 100 small companies around the world are working on converting the sea’s power to electricity. Many operate in Europe, where governments have pumped money into the industry. Companies and governments alike are betting that over time, costs will come down. Right now, however, little electricity is being generated from the ocean except at scattered test sites around the world. Despite hurdles to overcome, many see wave's potential as much greater than wind power.  link

May 2011: Potential predicted to be 240GW by 2050. By 2050, a British government think tank estimated that local wave and tidal could seize up to £76 billion ($112.9 billion) of the market, bringing in £15 billion earnings ($22.28 billion) and 68,000 jobs to the economy. The analysis, recently released by Carbon Trust, found that up to 240 gigawatts wave and tidal energy could be deployed globally by 2050, with deployments ramping up in the next decade for a global market worth up to £460 billion. Three-fourths of the total estimated capacity is forecasted to come from wave and the remainder from tidal. link

March  2011: Underwater Kites.  In the world of clean energy, kites have become a big deal. Minesto, the company behind the under-sea kite project called "Deep Green," will deploy a prototype of their technology. If their trial is successful, it could lead to a large-scale implementation of underwater kites around the UK coastline that the company says would generate enough juice (530 GWh) to power all of the homes in a city the size of Newcastle (population 189,863) by 2020. link   

Wave power first developed in Scotland 
January 2009: The Scottish Government announced one of the world's largest wave stations will be constructed off the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles, creating up to 70 jobs and advancing Scotland's lead in renewable energy. Ministers have granted consent for npower renewables application to operate a wave farm with a 4MW capacity at Siadar, Isle of Lewis, Western Isles.  link
The development of the first subsea commercial wave farm by a Scottish company took another important step forward today (February 20 2007) with news that Scottish wave energy company, AWS Ocean Energy Ltd. based in Alness, Ross-shire, has secured £2.128 million funding from the Scottish Executive. The funds will be used to develop and commercialize AWS' Archimedes Wave Swing, one of the few proven technologies worldwide for generating clean, renewable electricity from the ocean's waves. The support for AWS is part of a £13 million support package for Scottish marine energy developers funded by the Scottish Executive, which aims to establish Scotland as a world leader in marine energy.

According to Andy Baldock, a UK wave energy analyst from engineering firm Black & Veatch, "there is a growing feeling that the technology can be successful."  Research into wave power started around 20 years ago he says, originating in high-population, energy-hungry places like the UK and Europe that have few natural energy sources. Progress continued in wave-like spurts and lulls until recent times when the more urgent push for renewable energy sources stoked research and development funding. "There's a phenomenal number of [wave technology] devices out there, with several thousand patents. Over 100 ideas have been actively pursued, of which around 50 have had a reasonable amount of work done on them and around 20 are still being pursued quite seriously. At least ten are planning to do near full scale prototypes," says Baldock.  link

The British coastline provides almost half of Europe’s wave resources
and over a quarter of its tidal energy resources.

Britain: Britain is sitting on the biggest source of marine energy in Europe. Tapping tidal and wave energy could one day produce about 10% of the world's electricity consumption, so the incentive to develop turbines, hydrofoils and ducts which can convert this energy into watts is enormous. While the costs of wind power have decreased by 80% in the last 25 years with design improvement and economies of scale, marine power is starting from a lower base and Britain is a world leader in this technology. link

September 2010: The Wave Hub device (at right)  installed off the coast of Cornwall after seven years in the making, further establishes the UK as the world's leading test centre for marine energy. UK science minister David Willetts said "the UK is already leading the way with 25% of the world's wave and tidal technologies being developed here.  . . The sector could be worth £2bn by 2050 and it has the potential to create up to 16,000 jobs by 2040."  Wave Hub will be on the seabed for the next 25 years, helping the world gain invaluable knowledge about how to tap the vast energy potential of our oceans in the pursuit of clean, abundant, renewable energy and cement the UK’s position at the forefront of this green power revolution. The Wave Hub device will now undergo a series of tests before the first marine energy device is deployed next year. link
Sept. 6 2010: The 20MW Wave Hub is a £42m marine energy testing hub slated to be the largest test site for wave energy technology, to which wave power devices can be connected and their performance evaluated. The Wave Hub electrical socket that will connect potential wave energy devices in order to test electrical output was laid on the ocean bed last night and the entire system is due to undergo tests in the next few months. link

October 2010: Britain's Crown Estate reaches agreement for 400MW tidal project which will be one of the world's largest commercial-scale tidal energy developmentsand lead to the Pentland Firth having 1.6 gigawatts (16,000MW) of green energy deployment. link  

October 2010: Severn estuary plan scrapped. Plans to build a 10-mile hydroelectric barrage across the Severn estuary in western England, which could generate 8.6 gigawatts of zero-carbon electricity from the Severn, the equivalent of eight large coal-fired power stations, have been scrapped. The project was to have supplied 5% of the UKs energy requirements. link

August 2010: 1300 tonne one MW tidal power turbine unveiled. The device,  with two sets of blades, is the largest yet built, and is capable of supplying energy to 1,000 homes. Standing 73 feet tall, it is being transported to a test site in northern Scotland.  link

 July 2010: Underwater windmill providing 2.5MW in Ireland.  A sea  device working much like an  underwater windmill powered by tidal  currents is providing the equivalent in   energy output as a 2.5MW onshore wind turbine. link

May 2010: Scotland's dream of becoming the "Saudi Arabia of marine energy" took another step towards reality this week after two of the UK's leading wave energy firms unveiled full-scale demonstration devices. Two Scottish firms roll out the next generation devices. Pelamis and Aquamarine Power advance towards full-scale operations. link 
Six sites have been allocated for wave energy developments potentially generating 600 megawatts of power along with four for tidal projects, also generating 600 MW. The companies are to push forward plans to generate enough electricity to supply 750,000 homes. link

India  
January 2011: Gulf of Kachchh 250MW tidal project.  Marine energy developer Atlantis Resources, is set to partner with Gujurat Power on a project to supply 50MW of wave power in the Gulf of Kachchh in north-west India, which it said can be scaled up to 250MW in the near future. It is expected to break ground with construction as early as this year. It is also set to carry out further investigations into the potential of combining the offshore wind resource in the Gulf with tidal resources that would assess the feasibility of a mega marine power project. The project will be India’s and indeed Asia’s first at commercial scale and will deliver important economic and environmental benefits for the region. link

October 2009: The government of Gujarat has agreed with a subsidiary of Israel’s S.D.E Wave Energy Ltd. to build a 5-megawatt power plant that harnesses energy from ocean waves. At around $650,000 it is said to be cheaper than building power plants of the same capacity that generates power through coal, solar or wind. At present, the company has successfully built eight models that have been financed, checked and approved by the Israeli Government. The first commercial model using the system has worked successfully for one year in Jaffa Prot. Sea waves reportedly can produce four times more energy per square meter than wind. link 

Wave Power in the USA. December 2009: First commercial wave energy station in North America.  Ocean Power Technologies Inc. has tapped Clackamas-based Oregon Iron Works to construct its first commercial wave energy station in North America. The construction of the PowerBouy system is the first phase of an expected 1.5-megawatt wave power station located off the Oregon coast near Reedsport. Clean electricity generated by the device will offset 2,110 tons of carbon dioxide annually. The Oregon coast has been identified as one of the world’s top sources for future wave energy development.   link June 2010: Desalination and wave power coming to Texas. Ocean waves off the coast of Freeport will soon generate clean electricity and fresh water through a wave-powered demonstration facility to be developed by Independent Natural Resources Inc. A three-month study in 2007 showed that the plant could convert ocean waves to electricity over twice as good as other wave technology out in the market to date. Dubbed the Seadog pump, the facility will use 18 wave-powered pumps to draw water that will turn a small electric turbine to power a 3,000-gallon-per-day desalination plant. Renew Blue Inc., a subsidiary of I.N.R.I., plans to bottle the desalinated water using corn-based plastic. link  Wave power coming to California. Pacific Gas & Electric, the large Northern California utility, has signed a power purchase agreement with Finavera Renewables for 2 megawatts of electricity that will come from a wave farm, which Finavera will build 2.5 miles off the coast near California's Humboldt County. Ideally, the wave farm will start producing power in 2012. It will offset 245 tons of carbon dioxide annually, and if it succeeds, Finavera will expand the wave farm to 100 megawatts. link  May 2011: PG&E pulls out March 2011:,Oregon-based wave energy company, Columbia Power Technologies, successfully deployed a prototype of their flagship offshore technology named SeaRay in Puget Sound,Washington, moving it towards commercial availability. “The SeaRay is performing beyond our expectations and tracking well with modeling predictions. Our task is to demonstrate to utilities and independent power producers that we can help them deliver power predictably, reliably, and at a cost that is competitive,” explained CPTs CEO  link

      
April 2010: China proposes 10GW  wave energy project along its coastline. China may be fast establishing itself as the global leader in wind and solar energy, but to date it has made little progress in the sphere of marine energy. Now that looks set to change after an Israeli marine renewables firm announced that it will complete construction of a 1MW wave power plant in China by the end of the month. The plant, which cost around $700,000 to build, is in Guangzhou province, and is the first installation in a proposed 10GW renewable energy project to install wave energy systems along the coastline. link

March 2010: Kuroshio Current in Taiwan promises over 1,000MW of power. Taiwan shows great promise for ocean power development, especially if it can harness energy from the Kuroshio Current, the second strongest current in the world, which passes the east coast of the country throughout the year, said Chen Chien-nien, head of the National Taiwan Ocean University's college of engineering. The speed of the current from the volcanic Green Island can reach up to 1.4 meters per second, which can be translated into approximately 1 gigawatt to 3 gigawatts of electricity.  link

Australia: While having to compete with cheap Australian coal, wave power is viewed as the most promising source of clean energy in Australia's future. Many ventures are underway there now to capitalize on abundant waves surrounding this very dry country. Also desalinating water is a potential by-product of these developments.

May 2011: Ceto now operating in Australia. Australia has begun drawing renewable ocean wave energy enough to power about 70 homes. Carnegie is planning a farm of 10 to 15 Cetos that will yield roughly 2 megawatts. Wave energy can theoretically supply up to one-third of Australia's energy needs, according to the company, which invested about $30 million into its technology. link  

(Feb 2009) Oceanlinx  successfully re-deployed its full scale wave energy conversion unit at Port Kembla (south of Sydney). First deployed in 2005, the unit has been undergoing planned refurbishment and modifications over the past few months. Work is now in progress to re-commission the unit and continue the test and trial program. The Port Kembla Wave Energy Barge is a full scale prototype which is used to demonstrate various concepts and better understand the underlying physics of wave energy conversion. Production of volumes of electrical energy is a secondary consideration of this barge and it is not currently connected to any grid or public network and no energy has been discharged to the grid. Energy that has been produced to date has been discharged to load banks. link

Of various methods being tested, currently in Australia CETO appears the most cost efficient in many respects though other methods are being used. Named after a Greek ocean goddess, the CETO system distinguishes itself from other traditional wave energy devices by being a fully submerged, pumping technology with the power generated onshore (rather than offshore) via a standard hydro-electric turbine system. It has the advantage of producing both electricity and desalination without emissions to the atmosphere. All of Australia's southern mainland cities' current water needs could be satisfied by CETO units covering an area of 155 hectares (about 70 football fields) of sea floor at around 75% of the price of current desalination projects.

WWF (World Wildlife Fund) Australia has urged the federal government to invest in wave power following the release of a report titled, Power to Change: Australia's Wave Energy Future. Greg Bourne, WWF chief executive, said an investment in the industry would create up to 3,210 jobs by 2010. Australia’s estimated near-shore wave energy resources (171,000 MW) can provide approximately four times current national power needs. Over 14,000 Australians could be employed in the wave energy industry by 2050. link

Japan. A consortium led by Ocean Power Technologies which is headquartered in New Jersey, is working with the Japanese government to increase the recognition of wave power in Japanese energy policy, and to identify favorable sites for wave power stations and assess their commercial prospects. A trial plant would provide the basis for the expected building of a commercial-scale wave power station with an initial capacity of 10MW or more. Japan is one of the world’s largest economies, with a dense urban population and a coastline almost as long as Canada. link

Pelamis off-shore wave energy in Portugal 

Portugal plans to produce 45% of its energy from solar, wind and wave power by 2010. A Portuguese energy company called Enersis is funding a commercial wave energy project in Northern Portugal. Construction began at the end of 2006. The project will use Pelamis wave generator technology (manufactured by Ocean Power Delivery) to harness energy from the ocean. After two decades of research and testing at the Lisbon Technical Institute, the first stage of this ocean energy project is intended to produce 2.25 megawatts and power homes through the nation's state-run electrical grid system. Ocean Power Delivery is considered to be the world's leading ocean energy company.  Pelamis Update - March 19 2009: The three 750-kilowatt wave machines Pelamis had installed off of the coast of Portugal last year were largely working as expected before they were pulled ashore in November. It's a new technology, so problems and unforeseen difficulties were occurring. Still, power was being fed to the grid. At times, the individual devices were producing around 200 kilowatts of power. link   Nov. 5 2010: Pelamis project advances in Scotland. link

December 2010: Scientists worry about ocean energy's effect on sea-creature migration. Scientists increasingly believe these marine creatures and others use the earth's magnetic fields to navigate vast distances.  link

HOW WAVE POWER WORKS:  read more