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Ocean Energy Policy

2008 saw a continued increase in activity and interest in ocean energy in the United States. In late 2007, the US Department of Energy (DOE) was authorised for the first time to establish a research programme in marine and hydrokinetic energy, including wave, current (tidal, in-stream and ocean), and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). DOE spent USD 10 million on advanced water power research in 2008 (the technologies above plus select conventional hydropower technologies), most of which was spent on ocean energy.

 The US Navy has continued its support of specific ocean energy projects, including wave, tidal and OTEC, and all ocean energy research has been consolidated under its Naval Facilities Command (NAVFAC). The two US agencies charged with regulating marine and hydrokinetic energy facilities, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS), have devoted significant resources to improving their understanding of the technologies and their social and environmental effects, and each continues to refine its regulatory processes. Individual states have also continued or begun to pursue ocean energy related projects through a number of organisations, including the Oregon Wave Energy Trust, the West Coast Governors Agreement, and the Pacific North West Economic Region.

The primary focus of federal level activity has been the provision of grants to support companies and institutions active in ocean energy in the United States. Fourteen companies and organisations received over $ 7 million in grants for a diverse and complimentary set of projects covering a wide spectrum of ocean energy technologies. These included five technology development projects (two each in wave and tidal power, and one in OTEC), ranging from site development to subsystem design and testing to full scale prototype development; assessments of extractable wave and tidal resources in the US; a broad-based cooperation aimed at reducing the time, cost and potential negative impacts of project siting; support of International Electro-technical Commission’s (IEC) international ocean energy standards development; and the establishment of two National Marine Renewable Energy Centres. In addition, the DOE is supporting in-kind assistance through its national laboratories (National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) to two cooperative research and development projects.

Despite the demonstrated interest and investment in ocean energy, federal investment and production incentives still trail those of most other renewables. Most forms of ocean energy did become eligible for the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) for the first time in 2008, but the rate of USD 0.01/kWh is only half of that granted wind, solar and closed-loop biomass generation.

Table 1 shows the gross wave energy resource by region. This is an estimate of the energy contained in the incident waves if it were converted to electricity.

Table 1 – Wave Resource by Region

Similarly, Table 2 shows the estimated tidal energy resources for two regions;

Table 2 – Tidal Resource by Region

Source: http://www.nrel.gov/wind/pdfs/43240.pdf

Research and Development

A number of US universities and research organisations are active in ocean energy research and development, and their efforts continue to increase in scope and depth. In 2008, three such universities were named as part of two National Marine Renewable Energy Centres, designed to become integrated research, development and open water testing facilities. Oregon State University and the University of Washington have combined their respective expertise in wave and tidal energy, along with significant oceanographic, hydrodynamic and environmental capabilities to form the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Centre.

The University of Hawaii’s Hawaii Natural Energy Institute will lead a second centre, the National Marine Renewable Energy Centre in Hawaii, which will focus on research and development, scale and lab testing, and prototype development for wave and ocean thermal energy. Both centres will involve active partnerships with industry, including technology developers and utilities, as well as with other national and international research institutions.

Outside the framework of the centres, other organisations from across the country are devoting ever increasing resources to ocean energy. Florida Atlantic University has established a research and development programme investigating ocean current energy from the Gulf Stream, while in the Northeast, the Universities of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, all are active in the field. Other universities with interest in ocean energy include the University of Michigan, Maine Maritime Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech, and Texas A&M. Some utilities have also shown interest in developing renewable energy projects, including Snohomish PUD (Washington State), Pacific Gas and Electric (California) and the Hawaii Electric Company.

In the private sector, 30 companies in the USA are currently in the process of researching and/or developing ocean energy devices, split nearly evenly between wave and current, with a few involved in ocean thermal energy.

Technology Demonstration

While relatively few companies in the USA have reached the stage of full scale deployment and testing, many are moving aggressively towards project development and technology demonstration.

Those that have put hardware in the water by 2008 include:

Verdant Power, which successfully demonstrated its grid-connected multiunit turbine array of tidal energy (New York, NY) and subsequently filed for a Federal license allowing commercial sale of electricity in the USA.

Resolute Marine Energy (RME), conducted ocean testing of a prototype wave energy converter that produces compressed air for offshore aquaculture operations. Development work was funded by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and RME’s project partners were Ocean Farm Technologies and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC), which demonstrated the technical viability of its Turbine Generator Unit (TGU), the core of ORPC’s proprietary Ocean Current Generation (OCGen) technology, through extensive testing in tidal currents that come from the Bay of Fundy, in Cobscook Bay and Western Passage, near Eastport, Maine.

Ocean Power Technology (OPT), which continues to operate a 40-kW floating point absorber off the Kaneohe Marine Corps Base in Hawaii.

Organisations moving towards the demonstration phase include:

The Snohomish Country (Washington) Public Utility District, which is the process of completing engineering design and obtaining construction approvals for a tidal pilot demonstration plant in the Admiralty Inlet region of the Puget Sound.

Concepts ET I, which is developing an articulated-blade turbine for a floating OceanLinx Oscillating Water Column WEC, to be deployed and tested in Hawaii within two years.

The State of Hawaii, along with a number of industrial partners, which is seeking to site the construction of a 10 MW OTEC demonstration plant in state waters.

Pacific Gas and Electric, the largest investor-owned utility in the USA, which plans to initiate engineering design, conduct baseline environmental studies, and submit all license construction and operation applications required for a tidal energy demonstration plant for the two WaveConnect sites in Northern California.