The test project was funded by an Energy Department grant awarded to CalWave on account of its stellar performance as runner-up in the agency’s Wave Energy Prize challenge program. Last week the company concluded a successful 10-month test run of its x1 at a site off the coast of San Diego. That’s where CalWave is heading with its new wave energy converter, trademarked under the name x1.
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In contrast to the protective bay of the Hawaii site, PacWave South exposes its test subjects to the full power of optimal, open-ocean conditions. The site is also pre-permitted for a wide range of devices, which will save considerable time and money for private sector partners. With four berths in the open ocean, it can accommodate up to 20 wave energy converters at a time. Once fully operational, PacWave South is expected to kick the US wave energy industry into high gear. Grid connection is expected next year and the facility will be fully operational in 2024. In 2018 the Energy Department and OSU began finalizing plans for a more elaborate sister site called PacWave South, located in deeper waters farther off the Oregon coast.Ĭonstruction began on PacWave South last year. In the early 2000s, Oregon State University established another test site off the Port of Newport in Oregon. Still, the table has been set for success. That’s a stark contrast with the rampaging pace of activity in the US solar and wind energy industries, which just goes to show the enormous challenges racked up against wave energy. The base has served as a test site for various wave energy devices since then, but here we are 12 years later and none have gotten off the ground and into commercial operation, at least not here in the US. CleanTechnica caught wind of the activity back in 2010, when the the first ever grid-connected ocean power device in the US was hooked up at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, at Kaneohe Bay in Oahu. If you caught those things about coastal communities and military operations, that explains why the US Navy and Marine Corps have been front and center in the wave energy race.
“Wave energy devices could also power offshore fishing, marine research, or military operations that need to reach deeper waters.” The Long Road To Wave Energy “Waves are more predictable and reliable than solar or wind energy, and they could power hard-to-reach locations, like coastal communities and remote islands, which currently depend on expensive, carbon-intensive diesel imports,” NREL enthuses. However, the lab envisions a strong role for wave energy in the nation’s transition to clean power. NREL cautions that the 80% is a technical estimate, not a practical one.
“In the United States, waves carry the equivalent of about 80% of the country’s energy needs,” explains the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Nevertheless, the prize is a tantalizing one. Among other obstacles is the challenge of floating or submerging a mechanical device in saltwater for extended periods of time. In practice, though, wave energy conversion is a tricky task.
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They sit in the ocean, bouncing up and down, and transferring the natural kinetic energy of waves to a human-made device outfitted with an onboard generator and a cable hookup to shore. Wave energy converters are simple, at least in principle. The latest outfit to give it a try is the startup CalWave Power Technologies, which has just concluded a successful 10-month pilot test in California.
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Wave energy is an infinite, reliable source of zero emission electricity, if only somebody could figure out how to harvest it from the ocean without stumbling over cost, corrosion, biofouling, wildlife impacts, and other hurdles.
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