Cost Competitive: Even in these early stages of commercialization, Seabased
wave power can be cost competitive.
When it comes to
wave power, we have extraordinary potential, but also a large risk in that it is very difficult to develop and test devices to use out at sea in necessarily difficult conditions.
But are the risks of
wave power worth taking?
The Carbon Trust has estimated that
wave power could eventually meet between 15 % and 20 % of our current power needs and that, given time, it might produce enough electricity to power 11 million homes.
This is why I was extremely pleased to secure a Westminster Hall debate last week on the funding for technology innovation in
wave power.
It enables contractors to test arrays of
wave power devices at deep - water locations and already has one company signed up to plug into the hub.
I also represent the Peninsular Research Institute for Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMaRE) based at the Tremough campus near Falmouth at which academics from Exeter University are doing a lot of important research and testing crucial to
the wave power industry.
The next few months are crucial for
the wave power industry - the marine renewables deployment fund (MRDF) will be phased out in March 2011.
The U.K. government support scheme that gave
wave power its vital boost in 1998 has gone, and the
wave power industry now only gets the same level of support as offshore wind.
Carcas is sure that the United Kingdom, which has been calculated to have triple the potential
wave power it needs to produce all of the country's electricity, will have its first wave farm within five years.
He sees
wave power eventually providing some 20 percent of the United Kingdom's electricity needs, backing up the variability of the burgeoning wind power industry, which is set to rise to some 33 gigawatts within a decade.
Last month, Aquamarine Power finished the construction of its second full - scale
wave power device, the Oyster 800.
Pioneering research could provide a significant boost in the vital quest to harness
wave power as a viable renewable energy source for the future.
Tony Trapp, managing director of Engineering Business Ltd. in England, calculates that capturing just 1 to 2 percent of global
wave power — the share he considers recoverable — could supply 13 percent of the world's current demand for electricity.
Like oil,
wave power is unequally distributed and a matter of lucky geology.
West of Ireland and Scotland, the average
wave power rises to 70 kilowatts.
«It's amazing that
the wave power transfers to the killer electrons.»
Most other technology developed for harvesting
wave power — including Finavera Renewables's AquaBuOY, WaveBob Ltd.'s wave - absorbing buoy and another buoy - mounted generator made by SRI International — absorbs energy from riding the waves as they bob up and down.
Three red snakelike devices bobbing in the waves three miles (4.8 kilometers) off the coast of Agucadoura, Portugal, represent the first swell of what developers hope will be a rising tide of
wave power projects.
Most other technology developed for harvesting
wave power — including Finavera Renewables's AquaBuOY and WaveBob Ltd.'s wave - absorbing buoy — absorbs energy from riding the waves as they bob up and down.
His students subsequently published papers on reducing the variability of wind energy by interconnecting wind farms; on integrating solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric power into the grid; and on
wave power.
A new Brown University study stands to substantially refine what they thought was going on: what really matters is not a sustained elevation in beta
wave power, but instead the rate of specific bursts of beta wave activity, ideally with perfect timing.
«The Government will prioritise the development of renewable energy sources such as bioenergy, wind and
wave power,» said Ms Haga.
CETO is
a wave power technology that desalinates seawater using submerged buoys.
Do your research about
the wave power and currents of a specific Beach Break before you paddle out.
Time allowing, you'll get close to many lava tubes, sea caves, sea grottos and
wave powered blow holes.
Unlike many Cabo beaches,
the wave power is fairly consistent throughout the tidal stages.
There is nothing wrong with
wave power or wind power, provided that your neighbors do not object too much.
Other fossil - fuel replacements occasionally touted in print or on the Web include nuclear fission, subcritical thorium fission, high - altitude wind power, enhanced geothermal, hot dry (or hot fractured) rock geothermal,
wave power, tidal power, open - cycle ocean thermal energy conversion, and advanced biorefinery products like 2,5 - dimethylfuran, various other furans and furfurals.
However a country like Puerto Rico would seem a natural for wind and
wave power being in the trade wind belt.
But we scooped»em here - read the Treehugger take on
wave power below.
Huge wind turbines, solar,
wave power, battery storage and a lot of electric cars — these remote Scottish islands may provide a glimpse of the future.
We're very excited about the potential of
wave power to provide lots of clean energy (if you have missed Timothy's reference post on the subject, check it out) and think it should get a lot more attention and funding.
(He also said that there was the possibility of
wave power development.)
The definition of renewables includes hydropower, wind and
wave power, solar and geothermal energy and combustible renewables and renewable waste (landfill gas, waste incineration, solid biomass and liquid biofuels).
Wind farms need to be where there is a good wind resource,
wave power obviously needs to be on the coast, and biofuel power is best placed near where the biofuels are grown.
It is estimated that
the wave power plant will produce about 300 kilowatts, enough to provide 10 % of Mutriku's energy needs.
Arup will also consider parallels with offshore wind development and identify and analyse opportunities for improved competitiveness of
wave power with other marine renewables.
If the interest in tidal and
wave power continues to escalate, the additional capacity from hydro, tidal, and wave by 2020 could easily exceed the 500 gigawatts needed to reach the Plan B goal.
Ireland has the most ambitious
wave power development goal: 500 megawatts of wave generating capacity by 2020, enough to supply 7 percent of its electricity.
Ice serves to protect shorelines and habitat from storms and
wave power.
For Europeans opposed to nuclear energy (the biggest source of low - carbon energy in the EU), the portmanteau places a huge bet on technologies such as wind and
wave power, setting a target to triple Europe's overall use of renewable energies by 2020.
The paper, by Axel Kleidon, from the Max Planck Institute in Jena, Germany, certainly took an intriguing look at the limits of clean energy's poster - children of wind and
wave power.
Captain Ken - ichi Horie, aboard the Suntory Mermaid II, prepares to travel solo 4,350 miles from Hawaii to Japan on
wave power alone.
I have a idea to solve the UK power problem Invest heavily in Wind solar and
wave power sell it to the french when they need it.
VentureBeat notes that the company's design is an innovation on a traditional
wave power structure that uses the pressure of the waves to keep the device floating above the water.
Like tidal power,
wave power technology is largely undeveloped.
The burgeoning
wave power industry has its own unique set of hurdles.
Companies such as Canada's Finavera Renewables and Scotland's Pelamis
Wave Power also apparently see the allure of
wave power, which scientists say could potentially generate far more electricity than wind and solar power.
Deep water
wave power resources have been estimated to be greater than 2 TW.