Wave energy on the rise
Pike Research, a Colorado-based released a report today that predicts that marine hydrokinetic resources — what we tend to think of as wave energy — is emerging into a second-generation phase.
The report says that if ocean energy trial projects are successful in the next few years, this new industry could represent a significant new source of electricity, reaching up to 200 gigawatts (GW) of installed generation capacity by 2025 — that’s up from 10 megawatts (MW) at the end of 2008.
The hot spots for these renewable options include the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
Oregon has been actively pursuing wave energy. A multidisciplinary team at Oregon State University has been working on wave energy generators and has partnered with Columbia Power Technologies to test them. In addition, Ocean Power Technologies has contracted with Oregon Iron Works to build wave energy buoys for deploy off the coast of Reedsport.
The Pike Research report covers wave energy technology along with tidal stream turbines (similar to wind turbines, but placed underwater), river hydrokinetic technologies, ocean current technologies and ocean thermal energy technologies. The report points out that marine-based renewable energy is generally cheaper than solar and wind power in terms of up front capital needed per unit of electricity generated.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) suggests that the hydrokinetic and ocean energies covered in the report could meet 2 percent of current U.S. electricity demand.
Pike Research offers a free download of the report's executive summary with site registration.
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