LOCE Wind and Wave Energy Weblog

The web's first ocean and offshore wind energy weblog. Continuously renewed, like the ocean itself.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Floating Offshore Wind


Here's a link to a site with a post about offshore floating wind platforms that have been developed in Norway.

UK Removes Some Barriers to Renewables, Including Ocean


This article from Renewable Energy Access reports that
UK Law Could Streamline Renewable Energy
(11/16/05) Apparently, the new rules will adjust transmission charges for transmitting renewable electricity and eliminate requirements that a renewable generator that consumes its own electricity must sell it to a supplier and then buy it back.

Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) Moves Ahead With Buoys


This article,
Ocean Energy Devices Deployed in Two Oceans
(11/15/05) reports that Ocean Power Technologies is moving ahead with ocean projects in New Jersey and Hawaii. (from Renewable Energy Access ). According the article, OPT has deployed buoys off the coast of Hawaii (as part of a Navy contract) and New Jersey and both are successfully producing power. The next step for OPT will be to negotiate power contracts with utilities in New Jersey and link its Hawaii buoy up at the naval base where it is located.

Offshore Wind Power Coming To Texas


Looks like the first offshore project in the US may not be in either Massacusetts (Cape Wind) or New York (LIPA) but farther south and west in Texas. Why? Because Galveston Offshore Wind has just entered into a land lease deal with the state of Texas to lease lands offshore to site a windfarm, according to this article,
Wind farms expected to grow off Texas
(Steve Quinn, AP 11/6/05). Because it entered the nation as a sovereign state, Texas retained title to offshore lands twelve miles from shore. Thus, Texas controls leasing as opposed to MMS.

According to the article, the company is investing between $250 million and $300 million in the project and the turbines will come online perhaps as early as 2009. For more information on the Texas offshore project, you can view this article from Renewable Energy Access .

Portugal and Ocean Energy


According to this article from Forbes, Wave Power Could Provide 20 percent of Portugal's Electricity (11/10/05). The article reports:

Wave power plants around Portugal's coast could generate 20 pct of the country's annual electricity needs, worth about 5 bln eur, according to a study by wave energy centre CEO, Agencia Financeira reported. Portugal has a potential wave power capacity of 5 gigawatts, the centre estimates, noting that the entire global wave power market is worth only 350 mln eur at the moment. Opportunities for wave power in Portugal are a 'reality' as there is a major internal market for this kind of energy by virtue of the government's target for 39 pct of the country's electricity to be produced from renewable sources, the study said.


It's great that Portugal is so forward looking on wave energy - though if US policy doesn't change soon, we may see our developers heading over there. Which would be a shame.

MMS Assumes Jurisdiction Over Offshore Energy Development


This article from Renewable Energy Access entitled
Federal Shift Bodes Well for U.S. Offshore Wind Power (Jesse Broehl - 10/24/2005) describes some of the changes we can expect now that the Department of Interior's Mineral and Management Service has assumed jurisdiction over alternative energy projects located on the Outer Continental Shelf. For more updates on the MMS rulemaking and details on the policy, visit the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition's (OREC) Website .

Wave Energy for the Bay of Fundy


This article, Tidal Power Study Considers Bay of Fundy, Keith Douchette, Canadian Press (10/21/05) reports that various locations along the shores of the Bay of Fundy are under consideration as test sites for tidal power development. George Hagerman , a US Professor who specializes in ocean energy toured the sites as part of EPRI's ongoing study. working on an international feasibility study on behalf of the California-based
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have joined Maine, Massachusetts, Alaska, Washington and California as pariticipants in the study. According the article, Bay of Fundy is "of particular interest to researchers because its tides are among the highest and most powerful in the world."

Wave Energy Continues to Capture Our Imagination


Though wave energy development is moving slowly in the United States, it continues to capture our imagination as evidenced by this article, Wave Energy Proponent A Hit At Conference , Joel Gallob Of the News-Times (11/04/05). The article reports on a talk by Dr. Annette von Jouanne, Porfessor Electric Engineering at Oregon State and the force behind OSU's emerging wave energy focus. Von Jouanne's talk on at a conferece, "Oregon's Ocean: It's Perils and Possibilities" received a standing ovation as she described the possibilities that wave energy holds for Oregon. Take a look at the article for additional details on von Jouanne's presentation.