Waves of Energy | Green Energy News

December 7, 2003 – Vol.8 No.37

WAVES OF ENERGY.

The U.S. has nearly 90,000 miles of tidal coastline (including tidal rivers) and more than 12,000 miles of general coastline (where the ocean crashes directly onto beaches, cliffs or man-made structures). The west coast alone (including California, Washington and Oregon) has almost 1300 miles. Add Alaska and Hawaii and there are more than 3000 miles of ocean-front property on the Pacific.

In terms of converting energy from Mother Nature, the U.S. states that abut the Pacific are significant. With current technology those states seem the least likely to develop offshore wind because of deep water near the coastline, and of course NIMBYism ( Not-In-My-Back-Yard ism) from the owners of expensive properties.

However all is not lost. The Pacific Coast generally has the biggest, most powerful waves that could be harnessed to generate electricity.

Among the growing family of experimental ocean energy conversion devices is the SEADOG wave-pump from Independent Natural Resources.

In operation SEADOG would use the power of ocean waves to pump seawater to land-based towers or reservoirs. In the same manner that utility companies use pumped storage facilities to store energy for peak demand, seawater would be released from the SEADOG-filled storage facilities to generate power through hydroelectric turbines.

The company estimates that a square mile field, or wave-farm, of SEADOG pumps could generate 755 megawatts of electricity in ocean swells of at least 9 feet. In waves of 5 feet that would drop to 242 megawatts per square mile of field.

With recent successful testing of a prototype, the company is now seeking an opportunity to test the concept in an ocean-front application such as a resort complex and is seeking a willing participant.

For a sampling of the wave energy that hammers the U.S. coastline on a daily basis, the Coastline Data Information Program (CDIP) keeps real time information on ocean data (such as wave height) from locations off the coast of California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Georgia, Minnesota, Virginia and North Carolina. Though the Program covers a tiny fraction of the U.S. coastline, it is the kind of monitoring program that would be needed to determine the best sites for ocean energy should the U.S. consider its ocean front resources an excellent opportunity for renewable energy.

Visit Independent Natural Resources at http://www.inri.us and the CDIP at http://cdip.ucsd.edu/