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Overviews
An outstanding presentation:
Offshore Renewable Technology 2008.
This presentation covers UK developments and
work plans:
Marine Energy Tech Status 2008
US Dept of Energy Report 2005:
A Framework for Offshore Wind Energy Development in the United States
US DoE NREL reports on offshore wind
The
US DoE Marine and Hydrokinetic Technology Database lists
most of the ocean and river renewable energy projects around the
world.
Symposium Proceedings
Online
The Virginia Coastal
Energy Research Consortium
2007 Symposium.
New England Marine
Renewable Energy Consortium
2008
symposium
Global Marine Renewable Energy Conference
2008
West Coast Governors Alternative Energy
Workshop
USA and Canada
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The US Minerals Management
Service has established a website for the Outer Continental Shelf
Alternative Energy and Alternate Use Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement (OCS
Alternative Energy Programmatic EIS). It has good overviews of
offshore energy technologies, issues, impacts and regulations.
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The Electric Power Research
Institute (EPRI) conducted a North America
wave and
tidal energy research program that produced resource and technology
overviews and project studies.
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Ocean Renewable
is a trade association for USA ocean energy companies and interested
organizations and individuals. It has current news and good links.
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The
Ocean Energy Council is a US group representing many active
organizations.
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The
Ocean Renewable Energy
Group of Canada has an excellent bi-weekly newsletter of latest
developments.
Global
The offshore energy resource could ultimately provide power
for much of the coastal population in the USA and northern Europe. The wind and
wave energy resource is immense and continues off the shore. There is
room, and energy resource, for literally thousands of turbines and wave
converters, all of which be largely invisible from shore depending on their
distance.
"Sway" floating turbines under development in
Norway
Floating wind turbines are now on the drawing board that can
be moored in 300 feet of water or more.
The potential for ocean renewable energy is really enormous
when transmission cables are not needed. Floating wind turbines far offshore
could generate power for hydrogen power generation on commercial ships anchored
nearby. Hydrogen tankers could be steadily steaming into port bringing clean
renewable fuel. There is no practical limit to the renewable energy that
can be generated from the ocean this way.
The picture below illustrates the opportunity. Offshore
wind turbines and wave converters (shown are the
Pelamis devices) can be
installed off the coast in suitable depths that cover hundreds of square miles,
where the seasonal wind and wave energy is among the highest in the world.
They can make hydrogen at sea on floating platforms, and the hydrogen can be
shipped into the nearest port. Such activity would be licensed by the
Minerals Management Service and is not proposed as part of the Company's
projects.
However the feasibility studies will consider this opportunity.
A northeast Pacific Ocean renewable energy
field exists off the coast of Washington state. There are at least 4 million square km of ocean space that could generate as much as 5 MW/km2. Capturing even
a small fraction of this energy would be the world's largest energy project -
and it's renewable forever.
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