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The power wave: A group of wave-energy devices, each capable of generating one megawatt of power, could be deployed a few kilometers away from coasts.
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK
Chaplin is testing a model that is 25 centimeters wide and about eight meters long. So far, it seems to do what a simple theory predicts that it should, Chaplin says. The lab tests will last three years.
Deployed along the U.S. coast, wave devices could provide the United States--and the world--with a substantial renewable-energy boost. The contiguous United States has a wave-energy resource of 2,100 terawatt-hours per year--about half the country's total electricity consumption, says Roger Bedard of the power-industry-funded nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute.
But how much of the ocean's energy can be exploited in the United States is open to speculation, Bedard says. The technology is still immature and does not have nearly as much support from the government as solar and wind power do. What's more, its implementation faces tremendous regulatory and social hurdles in the United States. Bedard estimates that about 250 terawatt-hours of energy in the United States could reasonably come from waves--about as much as the country gets from hydropower.
But the future of the wave energy industry could depend on the incentives introduced by the U.K. government.
The same principle can be used to harvest energy from winds that are on higher altitudes.
A giant balloon floats on 10-20 km (or higher) anchored from the ground with a cable. On every 100 meters a "rubber snake" that floats too (filled with helium or other gas) is moving and produces "energy". Instead of a big and heavy "magnetic engine" can be used a "pressure generator" (or another principle) ... so every snake that is placed along the cable produces a small "pressure" that travels to the ground and spins a giant "generator"...
While a cost at $.12 a kWh may be competitive with other wave energy sources its more then 2 time the cost of coal at $.05 a kWh whole sale.
While research into clean renewable energy sources is desirable. It would be foolish to replace existing energy sources with a renewable energy source at more then twice the cost.
To make huge investments into commercial scale power plants using energy sources that have the uncompetitive cost would be incrementally destructive for your business or governmental entity.
For all those who are impatient with the speed at which new technology comes to market let this be the lesson that it needs to make business sense first, Else your business or government will fail.
I'd like to add: if $.12 kwh wholesale is competitive for your locality's energy market then by all means add this to your energy infrastructure.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
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mkogrady
425 Comments
Submersed Units
How deep are these anchored? If rather shallow, then large swells and hurricane energy could snap these like one does a whip. I suspect that at deeper levels, these may pick up the C or P-Waves and ocillate at a slower - yet predictable pattern and be protected from surface wave damage.
Also - are these to be anchored in oceans or are the great lakes a seasonable alternative? These bodies of water are subject to waves too, just not as large. Superior, Michigan and Huron all pick up good sized swells - some in the 15 to 20 foot range, and a scaled anaconda unit could provide power to the mid wesk and even parts of Canada and New York.
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