Enrique Gili* - IPS/IFEJ

SAN DIEGO, California, Oct 16 2006 (IPS) — Oregon’s spectacular coastline could become the United States’ centre for wave energy development in coming years, with plans underway to install power buoys in locations with enough potential to meet the state’s future energy needs.

Electrical engineers at Oregon State University are developing electricity-generating buoys they believe will be a key component for clean, green wave power. Their objective is to convert the Pacific Ocean’s heavy rolling swell into a renewable energy resource., relying on buoys to harness the near constant rise and fall of waves to produce electricity.

“Waves generate energy through motion,” said Dr. Annette von Jouanne, an electrical engineering professor at Oregon State University (OSU).

The OSU project is part of a renewed global effort to investigate wave and tidal power as a potential source of alternative energy, she noted.

“Oregon is an ideal location,” von Jouanne added in an interview.

Along Oregon’s 460 kilometres of open coastline, waves average 1.5 metres high during the summer months and 3.5 metres during the winter.

To achieve their goals, von Jouanne and her colleagues at OSU have designed several types of power buoys, including oscillating linear generators they refer to as “direct drive” technology.

“The devices directly convert the linear motion of the wave into electrical energy without any hydraulic or pneumatic stages,” von Jouanne said.

The upshot is a submersible buoy that can produce electricity without the risk of corrosive salt water wreaking havoc on its internal parts, and which is capable of withstanding the constant wear and tear of moving water that causes most machines to break down.

The buoy is composed of copper wire sheathed around a magnetic shaft made from high-density, rare earth materials, housed in a watertight chamber that forms an impermeable barrier. Tethered to the ocean floor with a heavy cable, the shaft remains fixed in place as the outer section bobs up and down in the water. That motion, coupled with a magnet moving through the center of a copper coil, generates electricity.

Today, wave energy is undergoing a revival not seen since the OPEC energy crisis of the 1970s. At that time, ocean energy enjoyed a brief period of notoriety, as oil supplies slumped and the price of crude skyrocketed. However, interest waned as prices for fossil fuels dropped and incentives to develop alternative energy supplies evaporated.

“Wave energy is still in its infancy,” said Justin Klure, a senior energy advisor for Oregon State. In order for ocean energy resources to be viable, advances need to be made in the technology and wave energy must be made affordable to consumers, he said.

Nevertheless, Oregon is committed to developing renewable energy resources in order to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the state’s dependency on hydropower and fossil fuels. In the long term, 25 percent of Oregon’s energy supply will come from wave, solar, and wind power, Klure said.

These efforts reflect renewed interest in the United States and elsewhere to use wave and tidal power to reduce fossil fuel dependency and to develop alternative sources of energy. Energy experts claim that harnessing just 0.2 percent of the ocean’s untapped energy would meet the entire planet’s power needs.

Currently several energy projects are underway to test the feasibility of wave and power in Hawaii, Portugal and England. Klure compares wave power favourably to wind technology when that industry was in its earliest stages of development 15 years ago. When specialists began advocating the use of wind power for large-scale energy projects, modern-day wind farms were a promising though untested technology.

Initially, wind turbines were expensive to produce and unwieldy. Over time, their fabrication, design and efficiency improved dramatically.

With the development of von Jouanne’s prototypes and plans for a wave farm near Gardiner, Oregon hopes to become the epicentre for a new industry focusing on wave technology. Not only will Oregon become less dependent on fossil fuel and hydropower, but in the process become the “Boeing” corporation of wave energy technology, bringing investment and jobs to the region, said Klure.

Western Oregon’s paucity of sunshine also makes wave technology appealing to state regulators. Water is 800 more times dense than air so the amount of energy extractable from ocean power is exponentially that much greater. Also, when compared to wind and solar power, waves are more consistent. Incoming swell can be predicted with 80 percent accuracy and is virtually constant.

A buoy measuring three metres high, bobbing up and down in the ocean, could produce 250 kilowatts per unit – meaning a modest-sized network of about 200 buoys could illuminate the downtown business district of Portland.

Theoretically, a grid of wave farms established along Oregon’s shoreline could produce most if not all of the state’s energy needs. However, the state’s renewable energy objectives are far more modest, with an overall goal to produce 500 megawatts of wave power within 20 years.

However, plans for wave power remain just that. Before wave farms are fully implemented, renewable energy has to be balanced with concerns over the impact on marine resources and the effect on tourism and the recreation industry.

Power buoys could pose their own unforeseen threat to wildlife. If those concerns are dealt with, Oregon’s clean green wave power could lead the nation in developing renewable energy resources.

(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ – International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)