{"id":97845,"date":"2021-03-29T10:15:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T10:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=179892"},"modified":"2021-03-29T10:15:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T10:15:00","slug":"the-u-s-is-finally-looking-to-unlock-the-potential-of-wave-energy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/03\/29\/the-u-s-is-finally-looking-to-unlock-the-potential-of-wave-energy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. is finally looking to unlock the potential of wave energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first glance, waves have the makings of an ideal renewable energy source. They\u2019re predictable, constant, and tremendously powerful. Their energy potential is astonishing \u2014 researchers estimate that waves off the coasts of the United States could<\/a> generate as much as 2.64 trillion kilowatt-hours annually, or the equivalent of 64 percent of the country\u2019s total electricity generation in 2019.<\/p>\n

But capturing the immense power radiating across our oceans\u2019 surfaces is no easy feat \u2014 wave energy technology is challenging to engineer, start-up costs are high, and testing in open ocean waters is a regulatory nightmare. That\u2019s why wave energy\u2019s trajectory has been a stop-and-go affair plagued by false starts<\/a> for decades<\/a>. But things may finally be starting to shift for the industry: The federal government recently approved<\/a> the first full-scale, utility grid-connected wave energy test site in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The Oregon State University-led project, PacWave South, is a 2-square-mile patch of ocean 7 miles off the rugged Oregon coast, where developers and companies can perform large-scale testing of their wave energy technologies. It will cost $80 million and is scheduled to be up and running by 2023. The design includes four testing \u201cberths,\u201d where wave energy devices will be moored to the seafloor and connected to buried cables carrying electricity to an onshore facility. In total, the PacWave South facility will be able to test up to 20 wave energy devices at once. <\/p>\n

While wave energy technology is still in the research and development phase, experts see it as a promising newcomer to the renewable energy landscape. In 2019, the global wave energy market was valued at $43.8 million and is expected to<\/a> more than triple by 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore you get certification to develop a commercial-scale farm, you have to actually demonstrate success at full scale,\u201d said Jesse Roberts, an environmental analysis lead at Sandia National Laboratories\u2019 Water Power Technologies department. \u201cNow that this test facility exists, there\u2019s actually a pathway to doing that in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"A
A rendering of the PacWave South wave energy testing site.
\n PacWave \/ Oregon State University<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

There is only one comparable site<\/a> to PacWave worldwide, in Scotland\u2019s Orkney Islands, according to the Oregon project\u2019s chief scientist Burke Hales. While there is a wave energy test site in Hawaii<\/a>, it is only set up for specific types of the technology. The Oregon site, meanwhile, can support almost any type of system. Although many early wave energy projects will depend on federal grants, Hales said, the hope is that the testing facility will also allow companies to attract venture capitalists and angel investors by proving devices\u2019 technological feasibility. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven somebody like Bill Gates isn\u2019t going to pay somebody millions of dollars to do tests that they think will fail,\u201d Hales said. \u201cFeasibility is pretty important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill Staby, who founded the Boston-based wave energy company Resolute Marine Energy in 2007, knows from experience that a key barrier for companies like his is getting permission to test in a real-world ocean environment. Much of Resolute Marine Energy\u2019s testing so far has taken place in wave tanks and labs, but those scenarios can\u2019t demonstrate the device\u2019s ability to weather rough ocean conditions. It might seem simple enough to install a device in the empty ocean, Staby said, but \u201cthere\u2019s a huge number of stakeholders, federal and state regulators that decide what goes in where and when.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wave energy is promising on its own, but it becomes game-changing when considered as part of a diversified renewable energy portfolio, said Kelley Ruehl, who works in Sandia National Laboratories\u2019 Water Power Technologies department. When the sun isn\u2019t shining and the wind isn\u2019t blowing, waves can be there to fill in the gaps. \u201cWhat a diverse energy portfolio does is it gives more resiliency to the system,\u201d Ruehl said.<\/p>\n

One of the unique capabilities of wave energy is that it is more easily scalable to smaller communities, said Dan Kammen, professor of energy at the University of California, Berkeley. While wind projects typically produce energy on a gigawatt-scale, wave energy devices have the potential to be installed on a megawatt-scale and used to power small, remote coastal communities, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to do a tidal or wave project in Maine, you\u2019re not going to ruin the viewscape, you\u2019re not going to impact lobster fishing,\u201d Kammen said. \u201cThere are real opportunities to integrate into communities these smaller units.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small-scale wave power installations will probably precede larger ones, much like they did with solar, according to Tim Ramsey, marine energy program manager at the federal Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. \u201cYou saw a lot of first applications of really small solar panels, like solar-powered watches, solar-powered calculators, solar-powered games, solar-powered lights,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where wave and marine energy is going right now \u2014 trying to learn from some of the smaller opportunities and applying them to the larger fiscal market.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At first glance, waves have the makings of an ideal renewable energy source. They\u2019re predictable, constant, and tremendously powerful. Their energy potential is astonishing \u2014 researchers estimate that\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3074,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[331,267,4,8431],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97845"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97846,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97845\/revisions\/97846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}