Ride The Wave
Just a press release about another marine hydro-power company but I get encouraged whenever I read one. Since there are so many people living close to a coast it seems logical to use the ocean for energy.
Minnesota-based energy technology company Independent Natural Resources Inc. (INRI) today announced it is successfully operating and testing its new ocean wave conversion system in the Gulf of Mexico, off of Surfside, Texas, adjacent to the city of Freeport.
Current testing in the Gulf of Mexico validates the results of several years of concepts and planning, showing the company’s SEADOG wave-pump technology’s potential to serve as a viable source of renewable power — harvesting power from ocean waves.
“Our sea trial in the Gulf of Mexico has exceeded our expectations and we’re confident our engineers have developed a new proprietary technology that serves as a safe, efficient system for gathering renewable energy from ocean waves,” said Mark A. Thomas, chief executive officer, INRI. “Going forward, we’re seeking actual ocean environments where we can place a wave-farm test field involving 14 to 200 SEADOG wave pumps. If the wave pump continues to perform as well as our sea tests have shown, we believe it has the potential to be a breakthrough for global energy production.” Wave farms may range from 50 to 80,000 pumps and exist in sea states from 6 inches to 80 foot seas.
According to INRI’s calculations, the company’s wave-pump technology is capable of generating an average of 755 megawatts of hydroelectric energy for every 1 square mile pump field, assuming ocean swells averaging at least 9 feet. With swells of at least 5 feet, a 1 square mile pump field could generate approximately 242 megawatts.
Interestingly, they don’t generate electricity on the buoy but instead pump sea water to the shore to be used in a typical hydro-electric fashion. They also tout the device as a way to desalinate water but details were lacking (it seems the benefit is acting as a non-electrical pump).
The SEADOGTM pump captures ocean-wave energy to pump large volumes of seawater, consuming no fuel or electricity and creates no polluting by-products in the process.
I have been fond of ocean thermal devices in the past but no one made good on those. Let’s hope the new ways of thinking are more profitable.
- Posted in : Environment, In the News, Positive Change, Renewable Energy
- Author :Rt
Comments»
This is a very old idea but in an adjusted form. Salter’s Ducks were first devised in the 1970s by Professor Stephen Salter of the University of Edinburgh as a method of producing energy from the hydraulic effect of oscillating wave fronts. Subsequently killed off by the British government as a potential challenger to nuclear energy, they were not to rise again for 20 years. By this time wind power was the only renewable game in town, and with the nuclear industry in Britain weakened it would seem an obvious way to produce more energy cleanly. Sadly, as there is little interest by the large energy companies in wave power technologies, government investment is reduced to token gestures.
Please read this article : http://earth-blog.bravejournal.com/entry/16826. We need to be brave if renewables are to fulfil their potential.
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