Has the tide gone out on marine energy?
The Pelamis wave energy converter project in Portugal was scuttled in March due to technical setbacks. . .
But even with that 21 MW project coming offline, the learning curve for offshore hydropower is getting shorter and shorter. So, we're getting closer and closer to harnessing the 2-3 million MW of coastal wave energy resources around the world.
Even when they're located near seaside cities, ocean energy facilities face many of the same challenges as offshore wind power. Both resources must, of course, be tied back to land with efficient and robust transmission systems.
And as the stiff maritime breezes can generate millions of megawatts, they can also destroy millions of dollars in engineering if extreme weather hits.
For disaster repairs and regular maintenance alike, marine energy devices have to be readily accessible from the ocean surface.
Pelamis aimed too high by shooting for a "hands-free" operation with no maintenance at the offshore site and "no offshore intervention."
Would we expect a coal-fired power plant to run without maintenance? How about a hydroelectric dam, for water-to-water comparison?
The answer is no. . . This was clean-fuel folly, plain and simple.
Of course, there are other companies besides Pelamis in many other resource-rich coastal regions besides western Europe. . .
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Beyond Pelamis
In Japan, which imports nearly all of its energy, they've tried a different wave energy conversion technique, channeling tidal water into narrow aqua-corrals along the coastline. Known as Tapchan, this technology has the benefit of being based onshore.
Tropical regions may be able to make use of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), which operates on many of the same heat vapor conversion principles as geothermal energy.
Here in the U.S., Rhode Island's Ocean Wave Energy Company is developing a system of movable floats anchored to a base plate below. That contrasts with Pelamis, whose floats were more or less strung together end to end with hinged joints.
Pelamis's machines may also be an example of overreaching size for wave energy devices—each cylinder is 180 meters, or nearly two football fields in length. Maybe less is more when it comes to marine energy?
Above all the trial and error we're seeing when it comes to ocean energy modules, if the electricity can't get to shore, then it ain't worth a thing.
That's why the best play on offshore renewable energy, bar none, is European engineering giant ABB (NYSE:ABB).
ABB: the Missing Link for Marine Energy
ABB pioneered high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology specific to the maritime fossil fuel industry, and those same applications can be used for renewables.
ABB has already delivered undersea grid linkups like the one between Finland's Nordpool grid and Estonia's Baltic grid to the south, running under the Baltic Sea.
HVDC Light, developed by ABB in the 1990s to link oil rig platforms to electricity grids, other platforms, and even nearby wind turbines, is the best bet for bringing marine energy to market. HVDC Light has an economical transmission range extending from just over 30 MW all the way up to 1,200 MW.
Pelamis, with mammoth machines intended to power 15,000 coastal homes with 21 MW output, didn't even hit the lower bound of ABB's HVDC Light capacity.
That's the state of marine energy today in a nutshell: too much and too little at the same time.
Without a doubt, we'll keep you up to date as marine energy changes to meet its challenges.
Regards,
Sam Hopkins
International Editor
P.S. — Once wave energy companies get their prototypes together and operational, there's still the matter of securing financing in today's lock-box credit environment. I'm heading to the Renewable Energy Finance Forum in Rio April 27-28, to find out which clean energy technologies are making the grade and getting funding, and which companies are in the forefront and bringing it all back to shore, so to speak. Green Chip International subscribers just closed a double-digit global energy gain yesterday, and they'll also have exclusive multimedia access to my reports from Brazil in just a couple weeks. To learn more about GCI, click here.
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Thanks for your article on the marine sector.
The operations and maintenance of wave AND tidal devices are absolutely crucial to the success of these industries moving forward. In fact, Marine Current Turbines as the first full scale tidal device deployed and connected to the grid, have been adament to consider the O&M experience from their early days of tidal development.
Pelamis is only one example in this sector and there are dozens others that are all looking to overcome and streamline the O&M process - as well as the grid connection issue.
Even though wave and tidal devices can learn a lot for Offshore wind, these are not the same conditions that they operate in as wave and tidal devices are either partially or completely submerged, making their operations and repairs a design challenge to be considered from the offset.
It's incorrect to say that Pelamis machines run without maintenance - -if so that would be folly - rather its designed so that all maintenance is carried out offsite, in a harbor. As you correctly identify - doing maintenance offshore is a problem - which is why they don't. The 'hands free' system you mention is what they use to do this - avoiding using divers or getting people on it - which is EXACTLY what you want in the offshore environment. Believe me I know what I'm talking about!
Also looking at their website the problem with the project appears to be more financial than technical with the main owner of the project having collapsed.
Yes storms can wreck things but not so much in the submarine world. Seabed Turbines in Tidal Estuaries take little account of storms or day or night nor the seasons, for they only have one master in the Moon twice daily driving them. Tidal power or Lunar power is there for always and the challenge to engineers of the future is to make them more and more efficient.
This may not happen in the short term but is in itself a potential growth industry for when we become more aware of how we must utilise all forms of green energy especially sustainable resources. We will need it all.
Thanks
Brian Clark in Scotland
Wave devices that produce large amounts of energy must be large and weighty - the energy cannot be captured by lightweight mechanisms. It is ideal that maintenance should be minimised because it is expensive and hazardous. The tapchan wave device is not a high energy producer as waves close to shore have dissipated much of their energy and if they do not contain the energy it cannot be extracted from them. No-one is suggesting that the equipment will not be maintained it has to be designed such that intervention is as infrequent as possible.
Tidal devices are very different to wave - they have to be strong enough to survive and again they must require access to them to be the minimum possible. It is easier to predict the output of tidal devices because the tides are predictable as far into the future as required. All marine renewables including offshore wind require substantial power collection systems - the UK is looking to build offshore grids to bring power ashore.