Energetech’s wave energy
by TreeHugger on 04.29.05
I thought maybe I’d fallen asleep in front of the TV and woken up to an ancient episode of Star Trek, but alas no. These guys at Energetech are serious about their ‘ultracapacitors’, ‘waveform zero crossings’, ‘transducers’ and ‘parabolic focusers’. And they aren’t even going into space — just down to the beach. They are installing a new form of wave energy off the coast south of Sydney and one off Rhode Island. They optimistically believe that wave energy will soon attain a 10% share of the renewable energy market. What makes their version different. Well, in their words “...
... the system employs a parabolic wall to focus wave energy on to an Oscillating Water Column (OWC) chamber. The rising and falling motion of the waves causes an oscillatory water motion within the chamber, which in turn forces a high-speed airflow past a unique controllable turbine.” The test plant in Australia could power 500 houses and will produce 2000 litres of desalinated water per day. A similar unit in RI does not affect the natural movement of seabed sediments, nor does it interfere with ‘bottom-dwelling’ critters, such as lobsters. Beam me down, Scotty. ::Energetech [by WM]
PS: see also Tim’s excellent post on four other wave energy units.
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Hey, Rhode Island is a state! There's no such thing as Rhode Island, NY. (cool post otherwise!)
Great idea to dissociate the actual turbine from the water, leaving sea creatures relatively undisturbed. The only drawback I can think of would be detritus building up inside the hydraulic part: that could be serious unless there is a self purge mechanism
Pardon my appalling geographic slip of the tongue. RI now returned to its own sovereign splendour!