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Oregon Sets Wave Energy Development Course

Monday, January 28th, 2013
By Pete Danko

Wave energy backers in Oregon – who hope to see the state become the center for the technology’s development in the United States – were celebrating on Friday, a day after the state’s Land Conservation and Development Commission voted to adopt a territorial sea plan that includes four areas where energy development will be encouraged.

The plan was accepted after several years of consultations involving stakeholders, including fishing interests who were particularly sensitive to the possibility of energy development in the territorial sea, defined as the waters and seabed extending three miles out from the coastline.

Wave energy converter tested off Oregon coast, September 2012 (image via Pete Danko/EarthTechling)

Wave energy converter tested off Oregon coast, September 2012 (image via Pete Danko/EarthTechling)
 

“OWET believes the Territorial Sea Plan is a great step forward for Oregon,” Busch said in a statement. “It strikes the correct balance between promoting the nascent ocean renewable energy industry and protecting the ocean and its users. Additionally, it provides a clear regulatory pathway for developers, and provides adequate space to support multiple technologies in areas specifically intended for wave energy development.”The plan adopted for siting ocean energy development in Oregon waters is akin to the federal government’s recently adopted policy for large-scale solar projects in the desert Southwest: except for some exclusion areas, developers can propose sites wherever they like, but outside the four preferred areas they will have to meet more stringent standards for protecting ecological resources, fishing and other existing uses, and coastal views.

Oregon is home to the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, based at Oregon State University. Last fall, the NNMREC deployed the Ocean Sentinel, a small-scale ocean test buoy platform. Then earlier this month the cener announced it had selected Newport, Ore., as the site of the Pacific Marine Energy Center, the country’s first utility-scale, grid-connected test site.

The Department of Energy last September seeded the effort to build the PMEC with a $4 million grant, to be matched by outside funds. More funding will be needed over the course of the several years needed to complete the PMEC, but regional leaders are driving hard to make it a reality.

In addition, this spring, Ocean Power Technologies says it will deploy its commercial, utility-scale PowerBuoy wave energy device two and a half miles off the coast near the town. OPT, based in New Jersey, is the first company to be fully licensed to run a grid-connected wave power array in the United States.

 

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State of Oregon Adopts Territorial Sea Plan for Ocean Energy Development

Friday, January 25th, 2013

Plan will govern how and under what conditions ocean renewable energy will develop in state waters.

The State of Oregon has adopted a new Territorial Sea Plan (Part 5) that includes policies and maps governing how and under what conditions ocean renewable energy will be allowed to develop in state waters.

On Thursday, January 24th, after a full day of comments and discussion, the Land Conservation and Development Commission voted to adopt the staff recommendations of the Department of Land Conservation and Development.

Oregon Coast - Creative Commons smilyrl

Oregon Coast – Creative Commons (smilygrl)

Those recommendations were a result of three years of public hearings intended to ensure that stakeholder concerns were well understood. The initial terms of the plan are intended to be reviewed in seven years, or when one percent of the territorial sea is actually used for ocean energy, whichever comes first. This qualification ensures that necessary revisions are addressed in a timely manner.

Four sites have been identified and designated as “Renewable Energy Facility Site Suitability Areas (REFSSA),” which are areas where ocean renewable energy companies will be encouraged to develop first. Those areas equal about two percent of the territorial sea, which is approximately 25 square nautical miles. Two of those sites are ideal for nearshore technologies, while the other two are preferable for deep-water technology. All of the sites were selected based on several factors, including access to electrical grid connections, access to deep-water ports and service ports, ocean bottom type, bathymetry, and avoidance of conflict with ocean resources and the users of those resources.

Although two percent of the territorial sea has been initially identified as REFSSA, up to an additional three percent may be made available as REFSSA for development in the future. The actual footprint of projects in the water will be limited to three percent of the territorial sea, which is approximately 37 square nautical miles.

Importantly, the REFSSA provide for a facilitated regulatory process that avoids strenuous requirements regarding impacts to fishing, recreation and ecological resources. Those lower requirements are justified because the areas were selected to avoid impacts with ocean resources and resource users.

In addition to the REFSSA, a secondary level of areas called Resources and Uses Management Areas (RUMA) was created. Those areas are also available for ocean energy development, if the project avoids “significant adverse impacts” on ecological resources and fishing. Those RUMA represent about 11% of the territorial sea. In combination with the REFSSA, that’s about 163 square miles available for potential ocean renewable energy projects.

According to Oregon Wave Energy Trust (OWET) Executive Director, Jason Busch, “OWET believes the Territorial Sea Plan is a great step forward for Oregon. It strikes the correct balance between promoting the nascent ocean renewable energy industry and protecting the ocean and its users. Additionally, it provides a clear regulatory pathway for developers, and provides adequate space to support multiple technologies in areas specifically intended for wave energy development.”

This new Territorial Sea Plan, combined with the two in-water testing areas operated by the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, ensures that Oregon will continue to lead the nation in advancing this new form of clean, reliable power and support the family wage jobs the industry will create.

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Oregon wave energy plan ready for vote after four years of work

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013
By Lori Tobias

 

“This pretty much is the playbook for the marine renewable energy in Oregon’s territorial sea for the immediate future,” said Paul Klarin, marine affairs coordinator for the Department of Land Conservation and Development.
“Some people think it will be a starting gun for industry to jump on certain areas. It does signal Oregon has a plan in place. The door is open for renewable energy.”

The 32-page document, part five of the Oregon Territorial Sea Plan, is to be voted on by the Land Conservation and Development Commission at its meeting Jan. 24 in in Salem. It is an amendment to the original draft of part five adopted in 2009.

That early draft came after then-Gov. Ted Kulongoski worked out a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that halted the permitting process to give the state time to come up with standards for the siting.
“This has been four years in the works,” said Tim Josi, chairman of the Territorial Sea Plan Advisory Committee. “We control our destiny with this plan. Without it, the federal government controls our destiny.”

The Ocean Policy Advisory Council, the Territorial Sea Plan group and other local entities held more than 100 public meetings, as well as dozens of conferences and workshops to learn who uses the sea and how, where natural resources and marine habitats are, and how such facilities would impact scenic beauty.

“It was a painful process,” said Josi. “Fishermen were the primary controversy … having to tell where their best sites are, and not only that, but having to give up fishing grounds. No matter what you do there is going to be one fishery or another hurt. People who live shore side don’t want to look at these facilities. People who use the ocean for recreation want to make sure their playgrounds are protected. We had to develop standards for all of those.”

Once that information was gathered, it was used to create a map delineating the Territorial Sea – the three miles of sea off the Oregon Coast – into areas defined by uses and resources.

The groups also came up with four areas – called Renewable Energy Facility Suitability Study Areas – where siting of renewable energy facilities is preferred. They include areas off Camp Rilea, Nestucca, Reedsport (where Ocean Power Technology holds a permit for a wave energy project) and Lakeside. The four areas cover about 22 square miles, or less than 2 percent of the territorial sea, Klarin said.

The areas could be home to wave-energy buoys, which would supply a new source for electrical power. Different buoys would have different capacities but the one planned off, for example, Reedsport would generate about 150 kilowatts, enough electricity to power about 100 homes.

But with the exception of exclusion areas – marine reserves and dredge disposal sites – companies can apply for permits beyond the preferred sites.

“That’s the whole point,” Klarin said. “It’s flexible; it allows the industry to have a broader range of opportunity.”

The standards for developing beyond the preferred study areas, however, will be much higher, depending on how the area is defined, he said.

Companies wanting to develop in a Proprietary Use Management Area — areas where authorized uses already exist — for example, would have to work with the existing user to see if there was a place they could operate, while those seeking to develop in conservation areas would have to meet the highest threshold of standards.
While the siting is an important piece of the amended Part 5, it’s only one component of a comprehensive plan, Klarin said.

“It’s a total package,” he said. “It applies the standards for projects that would be proposed for any of the areas in the Territorial Sea Plan. You have these project review standards for the environment, fishing, view sheds and recreation. Standards apply not just to sites, but other areas as well.

“The review process is more clearly identified, who’s involved, the plan maps, standards that apply to that plan and we added in expanded financial assurances. We have more clarity what it is we as a state would require in terms of financial assurances.”

Painful as the process might have been, many seem happy with the outcome.

The industry is happy Oregon is taking a proactive approach, said Jason Busch, executive director of the Oregon Wave Energy Trust.

“We’re walking a fine line,” Busch said. “The goal is to implement protections to make sure wave energy doesn’t run roughshod over the ocean. At the same time the plan has to be clear enough that there is ability for industry to move forward. We’ve created tremendous protections. At the same time, we created reasonable regulatory pathway for the industry to be able to move forward with certainty in Oregon in order to justify their investment. It’s not perfect. We’ll be working on it and fixing it for years.”

Environmental groups are also pleased with the process, said Gus Gates, Oregon policy manager for the non-profit Surfrider.

“There’s been a lot of hard work that has gone into this,” Gates said. “When you look at the full package, I really think we should feel pretty darned proud as a state. Arguably we now know more about where the human activities occur and where important habitats are in the ocean than at any other time in our history and that is a pretty significant thing.”

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Newport selected as home of Pacific Marine Energy Center

Monday, January 14th, 2013

The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, or NNMREC, which is based at Oregon State University, has chosen Newport, Ore., as the future site of the first utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy test site in the United States – the Pacific Marine Energy Center.

The Pacific Marine Energy Center, or PMEC, will test energy generation potential and the environmental impacts of wave energy devices, at an ocean site about five miles from shore. Subsea cables will transmit energy from the wave energy devices to the local power grid, and data to scientists and engineers at on-shore facilities.

The first installment of funding for PMEC was received in September, 2012, consisting of $4 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, along with a non-federal cost match.

“PMEC represents a major step toward the development of energy from Oregon’s ocean waters,” said Jason Busch of the Oregon Wave Energy Trust. “I’m certain that Oregon will reap benefits from PMEC for many years to come, and the research and development performed at PMEC will help usher in this new form of reliable electricity from the sea.”

PMEC design and specific site characterization will begin soon, along with the permitting and regulatory process. NNMREC will continue to work with a variety of partners to develop additional funding sources. The exact ocean location for the PMEC site will be finalized in the next few months in a zone that has been selected in collaboration with ocean stakeholders – an area that will not impede shipping lanes and takes environmental impacts into consideration.

The Pacific Marine Energy Center will have four “test berths,” open spaces of water dedicated to testing individual devices or small arrays of devices, each of which will be connected to the community’s electrical grid. It will also collect data associated with environmental and human dimension impacts. Completion will take several years.

“This site selection builds on the global reputation of Oregon State University in both renewable energy research and marine science,” said Rick Spinrad, OSU vice president for research. “Future research results from this site will help ensure our state’s leadership in these critical areas.”

The development and operation of this facility will provide jobs and other economic development as it attracts researchers and device developers to the Oregon coast from around the world, officials said. While under development, the Ocean Sentinel, NNMREC’s mobile ocean test buoy platform operating out of Toledo, will continue its work testing energy devices at its ocean test site north of Yaquina Head.

Advances in wave power technology are also one example of the growing partnerships between OSU and private industry. The university just announced a major new initiative, the Oregon State University Advantage, which includes such programs as the OSU Venture Accelerator and the Industry Partnering Program. It’s expected to help create 20 new businesses within the next five years while enhancing student education and Oregon’s economic growth.

In an extensive site selection process, NNMREC worked with four coastal communities to consider both technical criteria and community resources.  The options were narrowed last fall to Reedsport and Newport, the two communities that best matched the needed criteria for PMEC. Site selection teams from those communities submitted proposals in December.

The selection was ultimately based on ocean site characteristics, marine and on-shore cable routes, port and industry capabilities, impacts to existing ocean users, permitting challenges, stakeholder participation in the proposal process, and support of the local fishing communities.

“Both communities were committed to finding a home for PMEC,” said Kaety Hildenbrand of Oregon Sea Grant, coordinator of the site team process. “They spoke to their own strengths and demonstrated their unique assets.”

Belinda Batten, director of NNMREC, said the communities were similar in their capacities and capabilities, and the final choice focused on making PMEC a global competitor among international test facilities. All coastal communities will benefit from the growth of this industry on the Oregon coast, she said.

The Oregon Wave Energy Trust has supported PMEC and helped create a wave energy development regulatory process that meshes the needs of ocean stakeholders and the state. The agency has also helped address key points in Gov. Kitzhaber’s 10-year energy plan, including how wave energy is integrated into Oregon’s power grid while maintaining high environmental standards.

NNMREC is a partnership between OSU and University of Washington, focused on wave and tidal energy respectively, and receives a substantial part of its funding from U.S. Department of Energy. NNMREC operates a non-grid connected wave energy testing facility in Newport north of Yaquina Head and supports intermediate scale device testing in Puget Sound and Lake Washington. PMEC will complete the wave energy device test facilities.

About Oregon State University: OSU is one of only two U.S. universities designated a land-, sea-, space- and sun-grant institution. OSU is also Oregon’s only university to hold both the Carnegie Foundation’s top designation for research institutions and its prestigious Community Engagement classification. Its more than 26,000 students come from all 50 states and more than 90 nations. OSU programs touch every county within Oregon, and its faculty teach and conduct research on issues of national and global importance.

 

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Not Easy To Find Room For Ocean Energy

Monday, December 17th, 2012
By Tom Banse

It’s the end of the beginning of what has been a long and fraught process. A state advisory committee wraps up with a light-hearted but telling vote to adjourn.

Committee Member: “Please signify by saying ‘argh…” Response: “Argh!”

That “argh” comes from 25 people who’ve spent months parsing ocean maps in an attempt to balance competing interests.

Edwards: “It’s hard to fit a new industry into an already crowded territorial sea.”

Nick Edwards of Coos Bay advocates for commercial fishermen like himself. He says the placement of industrial energy generators on top of prime crabbing grounds could spell disaster for the local fishing fleet. But Edwards says major fishing groups realized early on that just saying “no” was not an option.

Edwards: “We felt it was better to form a group to work with wave energy because we were basically looking down the barrel of a shotgun – and it was loaded. Well, that time is now. It’s here. It’s readily apparent that it’s coming to Oregon. There’s a lot of horsepower, there’s a lot of funding behind it. It’s better to be a part of the process than to ignore the process. The head-in-the-sand doesn’t work.”

Sitting a few seats away at the table is Jason Busch, director of the state-funded Oregon Wave Energy Trust. That group wants the Northwest to be in the forefront of a new global industry, if it can be done responsibly.

Busch: “There has to be a way to do this. There has to be a way to make it work. Every form of development in the country displaces something. You can say that about every road, every church that has ever been built impacts somebody.”

The many vested interests around this table searched high-and-low for squares of ocean that present the least conflict. It’s the kind of search being repeated pretty much every place in the world ocean energy developers come calling. Latest example: British Columbia is convening an ocean zoning process for some of its coastal waters.

The Oregon panel eventually recommended that the state allow no more than four or five commercial wave energy projects for starters. They also said the projects should be equitably distributed up and down the coast. Those are acceptable “sideboards” to Greg Lennon. He represents Ocean Power Technologies, a project builder.

Lennon: “It’s an indication to the wave energy industry that Oregon is looking to work with wave energy companies in finding sites. They’ve identified a few, which is perfect for companies to move forward with to prove out their technologies.”

Ranked highest by the state advisory panel is a site near Astoria in front of the National Guard’s Camp Rilea. That location is less controversial than others because the ocean acreage is already off-limits some of the time during target practice.

Meanwhile, in Washington, active permitting for marine energy is down to one public utility. Snohomish PUD is exploring tidal power generation near the top of Puget Sound. First in the water though next spring is a commercial scale wave energy generator near Reedsport, Oregon. It will eventually become a 10-buoy demonstration project. It got a license before the ocean zoning process gathered momentum.

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Proposed wave energy site off Gold Beach

Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
By Jane Stebbins

Generating energy from the power of ocean waves is the wave of the future, and Oregon is on the forefront in the United States.

Buoys – some long pipes that sit atop the sea, others that are grounded in the seabed and extend into the waves – are proposed in seven locations along the Oregon Coast, but those in attendance at an informational meeting last week are not in favor of one proposed near the Rogue Reef in Gold Beach.

About 20 stakeholders, most of them fishermen and crabbers from Brookings, were in Gold Beach last Friday to learn about the emerging technology and the management plan that will direct it.

The state is mandating large-energy utilities in Oregon to generate 25 percent of their energy through renewable sources, including hydropower, wave, biomass, geothermal, wind and solar, by 2025.

The state and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) agreed in 2007 not to locate any more energy facilities until Oregon revises its Territorial Seas Plan.

If FERC likes Oregon’s Territorial Sea Plan, it might use it as a guideline in federal waterways, defined as three to 120 miles from shore, said Dave Lacey, the south coast organizer for Our Ocean, a coalition of conservation groups in Oregon.

But if Oregon fails to develop a plan, the planning will revert to the FERC and no longer be under local control.

The plan is an ecosystem-based management document, outlining economic values – fisheries and tourism among them – and aesthetics, ecology and recreation. Using fishing and crabbing maps, input from polls and holding numerous meetings, seven sites were proposed along the Oregon Coast.

One of them, proposed by Nick Edwards of Charleston, who serves on the Oregon Energy Trust and the state Crabbing Commission, is the Rogue Reef. Those in attendance were unanimous in their opposition to that location, saying that the ideal spot is near Charleston, where waves are in abundance and an energy substation is located.

“The energy industry loves this site,” Lacey said.

As a new technology, the wave-energy collecting devices vary in appearance and function.

One type, used in Scotland and Portugal, lies on the water and absorbs the wind-driven wave energy. Another type involves a buoy affixed to a jetty, generating energy as the waves pound against it. And yet another prototype features an arm-like mechanism whose “hand” bobs on the ocean waves and bends at an “elbow.”

One, like the one used in a test near Reedsport, is affixed to the ocean floor and pulled up and down in the ocean waves. Some even do double-duty, featuring windmills atop the generators.

“Some are on the seabed on the ocean floor, some are in the water column, some are sitting on the surface, some project up from the surface into the atmosphere, like wind – many different sizes, many different forms, many different footprints,” said Paul Klarin, the marine program coordinator at the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. “There’s no one-size-fits-all kind of plan.”

The United States can learn from other countries, however.

“There are places way ahead of us on this front: Scotland, England,” Lacey said. “Maybe some of these will work for us.”

Advantages of wave energy include that it is green, renewable, reliable and has tremendous energy potential. Disadvantages include the possible effects on fisheries, the ecosystem – including sounds that could affect whales – visual impacts and its high costs.

A typical household uses 1 kilowatt per day; Ocean Power Technologies’ first utility-scale buoy is rated at 40 kilowatts. The Reedsport buoy was designed to produce 150 kilowatts.

According to the Ocean Energy Council, wave-driven buoys are hoped to eventually produce energy at a cost of 4.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. The best technology, in the United Kingdom, is producing energy at an average cost of 7.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.

In comparison, electricity generated by large-scale, coal-burning power plants costs about 2.6 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Jason Busch, the executive director of the Oregon Wave Energy Trust, said the energy generation alone would be “great,” and having the devices survive a winter storm would be “priceless.”

Yet, the first of the devices was anchored this fall in Reedsport – and washed up on the beach in mild fall weather.

“We’re all for testing some of this stuff,” Lacey said, adding that it should be implemented gradually. “But the Rogue Reef is not the place to do it.”

Conservationists want any plans to avoid construction in river mouths, rock seabeds or headlands, be adaptive to change, consider cumulative effects, meet renewable energy standards and maintain the coastline’s legacy.

“We don’t want our kids to see all these out there and it becomes the new normal,” Lacey said.

Other concerns included buoys becoming loose and landing on the reef, unmapped rocks, salmon runs on the Rogue, if the installation of the buoys could be phased in, and the effects on the live-fish industry if additional leeway required of the buoys would force fishermen farther out to sea.

A Territorial Sea Plan Advisory Committee meeting will be held at the Salishan Lodge in Gleneden near Lincoln City from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 6.

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The power of water

Tuesday, November 20th, 2012
By Anne Nagro

The motion of the ocean may help power your home in the not-too-distant future.

If rolling waves make you seasick, consider this: someday soon they could help charge your car and light your house.

“The potential for ocean energy is huge,” says Jason Busch, executive director of Oregon Wave Energy Trust (OWET), a nonprofit that hopes to see enough green wave electricity created by 2030 to power 3,000 homes.

Waves and tides alone could produce one-third of the nation’s electricity if all their potential were realized, according to The U.S. Department of Energy. Realistically, they’ll make up part of the 15 percent of total electricity generated from water power over the next 20 years.

Waves required. To create wave power, you need waves, which are “always biggest on the west side of continents,” says Dr. Belinda Batten, director of the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) at Oregon State University. Why? Westerly winds consistently blow over vast stretches of ocean. This makes Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii ideal spots, as a well as Scotland, Portugal, Chile and Western Australia.

How does it work? Converting wave energy is still in the “toddler” stage, Dr. Batten says. Devices rely on waves’ up-and-down, back-and-forth or right-to-left movement, or a combination of all three. Some sit on the seabed; others float under the water or on its surface. They are designed for use offshore or near shore, and to power everything from remote ocean sensors to public utilities.

In the U.S., the project closest to supplying a public utility involves a 150-ton buoy that will be deployed 2.5 miles off the coast of Reedsport, Ore., in early 2013. The 40-foot-wide, 146-foot-tall device, most of it sitting underwater, uses the vertical motion of waves to move a float up and down on a stationary spar and spin a generator. Scientists will monitor the buoy for a year before it’s hooked up to the electrical grid. Eventually, 10 buoys will generate 1.5 megawatts of power.

Last summer, NNMREC evaluated a device that captures all three wave movements at its new Newport, Ore., test site. Looking a bit like a football goal post with cylindrical float on the cross bar, it was hooked to a test buoy, which gave feedback on power generation and wave profiles.

Near Fort Pierce, Fla., students from Florida Institute of Technology’s ocean engineering program are testing two designs for harvesting near shore wave energy abundant in coastal areas similar to Florida.

The power of tides. Another renewable energy source is tidal power, which uses wind-turbine-like devices anchored to the sea floor. “Instead of trying to harness the power of fast moving wind, you’re harnessing the power of fast moving water,” explains Dr. Brian Polagye, co-director of NNMREC at University of Washington.

Tides are a “very predictable, high intensity resource” and installations can be scaled to a given location, Polagye says. But they require high tides and narrow channels –you want a lot of water flowing through a small area – like in Washington, Maine and Alaska. Marine turbines need 4 knots of water speed to operate efficiently.

An underwater turbine in Cobscook Bay, Maine, delivered electricity to the public utility in September. It is the first grid-connected tidal project in the U.S. and will generate enough electricity to power 25 to 30 homes annually. Two additional turbines will be installed next fall.

A demonstration project with Washington’s Snohomish County Public Utility District will test an underwater turbine in Admiralty Inlet, a narrow channel at the mouth of Puget Sound. It should go online in late 2013.

Energy from slow-moving water. For areas without big waves or tides – typical ocean currents are slower than 3 knots, rivers less than 2 knots – scientists have found other ways to harness energy.

The VIVACE system relies on vortex-induced vibrations. Think of the swirls and eddies that form around dock pilings. Vortices can cause structures like bridges to fatigue and collapse, but also help schools of fish propel through the water. VIVACE’s horizontal cylinders, which even sport a fish-scale-like surface for improved efficiency, sit on the seabed and oscillate up and down with the frequency of the vortices.

This movement creates power. VIVACE generates 14,600 times more power per volume than the two largest U.S. wind farms at equivalent speeds, says creator Dr. Michael M. Bernitsas of the University of Michigan. Rated speed for wind farms is 12 meters per second; the equivalent speed in water is 1.3 meters per second or 2.6 knots, well within normal offshore current speeds.

Fish easily navigate the cylinders, tested in Michigan’s St. Clair River and a Netherlands canal. Portable units for charging autonomous underwater vehicles should be available in 2014.

Baby steps for the environment. While an OWET survey found 78 percent of Oregon coast residents support wave energy development, organizations are taking pains to “avoid the mistakes of our forefathers” and not adversely affect the environment, Jason says.

OWET has spent more than $1 million on studies to evaluate the impact of wave devices on whale migration and sediment transport, as well as how electromagnetic force from electricity flowing through cables impacts marine life.

The main goal of the Admiralty Inlet tidal project is learning the long-term impact on marine creatures, ocean habitats, water quality, acoustics and even derelict fishing gear. Devices and their placement in the ocean will be adjusted based on the data gathered.

“That’s not an opportunity we’ve had with other types of renewable or traditional energy generation,” Polagye says. This scrutiny also makes for a slower road to development.

Uncertain future? At this stage, ocean energy relies heavily on federal support.

In many ways, it’s where wind energy was 30 years ago, explains Dr. Batten of NNMREC, a “neutral voice of science and engineering” and one of three centers funded by government to help commercialize ocean energy. The U.S. led the world in wind technology, but backed off when incentives, research funding and budgets were cut. Today, European wind turbines are being installed here.

“In wave energy we have the opportunity to be a world leader.” It’d be a shame to have that pulled out from under us, Dr. Batten says.

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Oregon Wave Energy Trust works to position state as renewable leader

Monday, November 19th, 2012

By Andy Giegerich

There’s little question that Jason Busch will look back fondly on 2012.

The executive director of the Portland-based Oregon Wave Energy Trust counted four major accomplishments during the year. Each development brings Oregon one step closer to becoming the nation’s leader in an energy form — wave power — believed to be both renewable and efficient.

For starters, three developers began deploying devices in the Pacific Ocean last summer. More are expected to follow suit next summer.

The trust also welcomed Oregon State University’s Northwest Marine Renewable Energy Center’s Ocean Sentinel. The first in-ocean test center became operational in August (see photos and learn more about its deployment here).

The wave group further received funding for the Pacific Marine Energy Center, which is the nation’s first in-water, grid-connected test site.

Finally, Busch’s group is leading the drive to ensure a “territorial sea plan” includes sites that actually benefit industry players as they test whether their technologies can work commercially.

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Wave-Powered Energy Turning the Tide in Oregon

Friday, October 19th, 2012

Wave-power could soon become a large part of America’s energy infrastructure, and Oregon is on the cutting edge of development.

Research into technologies that will harness wave power is being done in both the private and public sectors, but it is the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) that may realize the dream of commercial-grid-electricity generated through wave power.

Researchers from the University of Washington and Oregon State are the brains behind NNMREC. Brian Polagye oversees projects using tidal energy, while Belinda Batten oversees wave energy. While these two areas may sound the same, they are attempting to harness the power of two very different characteristics of the ocean.

Tidal power research focuses on the slow but constant ebb and flow of the tides. These devices are placed far below the ocean’s surface. Wave-power devices float on or near the surface and generate power from the movement of the waves.

The NNMREC says in order to pioneer the new technology, they have to examine a variety of ideas. “There is no one design, or handful of designs, that seems to be a leader,” said Anthony Casson, Public Information representative for NNMREC.

Casson said one of the most recent trials was of a type of wave energy converter (WEC) called the Ocean Sentinel. The device is known as a point-absorber, and it hovers just below the ocean’s surface. The Ocean Sentinel generates power with a system of hydraulics that converts the device’s 360-degree rotation to electricity.

The Ocean Sentinel project, a joint effort between New Zealand and Oregon, recently completed a six-week testing cycle off the coast of Newport, Ore. The Ocean Sentinel tested electric generation off-the-grid and supplied NNMREC with power analysis, data environmental monitoring, and power dissipation control.

Another WEC, called the Power Buoy, will be tested this month. Developed by New Jersey-based Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), the Power Buoy will be moored off the coast of Reedsport, Ore. Much like the Ocean Sentinel, the Power Buoy is a floating point-absorber with most of its structure underwater and some visible above the ocean’s surface.

Unlike the Ocean Sentinel, the 150-kilowatt Power Buoy uses a giant piston-like device, which generates power through direct-drive mechanics. OPT hopes the Power Buoy could lead to an entire array of power buoys and eventually be connected to form the first wave array in the country. OPT currently has a license for 10 additional grid-connected buoys.
“Part of NNMREC’s mission is to help people discover what the environmental and social impacts of implementing such devices are, if any exist,” said Casson. “We don’t really have the answers, because the industry is so young. It’s important to note that NNMREC is not a developer; we merely facilitate device development by providing the necessary testing resources. As a university, we also are tied to a large pool of researchers who are available to take new projects when funded.”

A second testing facility is expected to open in May 2013 and is projected to produce between 5 to 10 megawatts (MW) within three years, depending on the type of WEC installed.

As far as consumers are concerned most people believe this new technology offers more promise than problems. A poll from the Oregon Wave Energy Trust shows that the majority of the state’s coastal residents approve of wave energy development. The nonprofit, public/private group surveyed 400 residents in seven coastal counties.

“Oregon coastal residents recognize the tremendous potential of harnessing the power of their backyard,” OWET Executive Director Jason Busch said in a statement, according to Earth Techlink.

But a small percentage strongly oppose the technology because of concerns that it might hurt the fishing industry and ruin coastal views.

According to Batten, device developers are expected to come from all over the world and test wave technology. She says the group will work with a variety of stakeholders in locating the new facility, and examining what kind of environmental impact it might have.

“We are working with fishermen to find a site that is amenable to them,” Batten said. “I doubt much recreation will be affected—it’s only going to be 1 or 2 square nautical miles, so it won’t be a big deal for boats to go around it, and it’s too far out to affect anything like surfing.”

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Riding the Wave

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

The technology is drawing closer to allow the Pacific Ocean to be harnessed to produce electrical energy. Several proposals are on the table in both Oregon and California; we’ll hear about the progress north of the state line with the people from the Oregon Wave Energy Trust.

Listen to the interview.

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