While solar and wind power plants are now becoming increasingly common, one as yet untapped area of renewable energy is wave energy – using the kinetic energy of waves to generate electricity, but recent technological advancements could soon mean wave energy becomes a far more viable option.
In the US the energy company Finavera were granted the first ever license issued by the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a wave, tidal or current energy project in December. The license will allow Finevera to establish a one Mega Watt demonstration plant 3.7 nautical miles offshore of Waatch Point in Makah Bay, near the city of Neah Bay, Washington. It is expected to generate enough energy to supply about 150 homes in Neah Bay each year.
The power will come from clusters of individual bouys, which Finavera have named Aquabouys, and are similar to navigational bouys designed to survive decades of major storms. The movement of the waves forces pressurized seawater into the bouys to drive a turbine, and the electricity generated is transmitted to shore by means of a secure, undersea transmission line. The potential with this system is that wave plants can be continually scaled up by adding further bouys, and due to their size, the “power plant arrays would be visible to allow for safe navigation and no more noticeable than a small fleet of fishing boats.”
Finavera have also signed an agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) for a two Megawatt wave energy project off the coast of California. This will be the first commercial wave energy project in North America and is expected to begin delivering renewable, clean electricity in 2012.
Plans are also in development by Finavera for wave power projects in Portugal, South Africa and Canada, and with the potential of world-wide wave energy generation estimated at around 2,000 TWh/year – around 10% of world electricity consumption, wave energy could become a major power supplier within the next 15 years.
This is an untapped source. Although I’m no expert, this seems like it could have potential.
It will have very good potential. If harrnessed corectly it will have massive amount of electricity flowing in for our needs!!!