Steve Padilla, a Democrat from Chula Vista and the author of the wave energy bill, said ocean power has “great potential” but it has been agonizingly slow. We’ve made progress, but we’re a decade away,” Ramsey said. … Then being able to build something that can last 20 to 30 years. Working out in the water is very complex, in some cases in the harshest places on Earth. “It’s very expensive right now, and really hard to do. In some cases, that movement creates hydraulic pressure that spins a turbine or generator.Īs with all developing energy technologies, Ramsey said, the cost to produce wave and tidal power is expected to be quite high in the early years.Īlthough there have been advances in technology, getting ocean-based projects from the pilot stage to providing commercial power to the grid is the next hurdle for the industry-and it’s a substantial one. Although wave and tidal devices take different forms, most capture the ocean’s kinetic motion as seawater flows through cylinders or when floating devices move up and down or sideways. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office.Įnergy from waves and tides is generated by an action that the ocean almost always provides - movement. We are kind of where land-based wind was 20 or 30 years ago,” said Tim Ramsey, marine energy program manager at the U.S. “Of all the energies out there, marine energy has been the slowest to develop. ![]() Yet energy experts say there is great potential along the Pacific coast. Through 2045, the California Energy Commission’s new projections for future power do not include any wave and tidal power. So far, a handful of small demonstration projects have been launched off the West Coast, although none has produced commercial power for the grid. And the technology that would make the projects more efficient, cost effective and able to withstand a punishing sea environment is still under development. The goal is to jumpstart an industry that could fill in the power gaps as California tries to achieve its goal of transitioning to an all-renewable electric grid by 2045.īut for all the interest in renewable energy-and the government subsidies-public investment in ocean energy has lagged. Gavin Newsom in October instructs state agencies to study the feasibility and impacts of capturing ocean movement to create power and report back to the Legislature by January 2025. Now the state is considering hosting another renewable energy technology in the sea: Blue power, electricity created from waves and tides.Ī new law signed by Gov. Coastal areas are congested with cargo ships, international commercial fishing fleets, naval vessels, oil rigs and, soon, floating platforms for deep-sea mining.īut the Pacific Ocean is going to get even busier: Nearly 600 square miles of ocean off California have been leased for floati n g wind farms, with more expected. ![]() The world’s oceans may be vast, but they are getting crowded.
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