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Posted on 11/01/2007 11:27:45 AM PDT by SoldierMedic
NEWPORT, Ore. — The first wave energy test buoy deployed off the Oregon Coast is now 150 feet below the ocean surface.
Mike Clark, a spokesman for Finavera Renewables, a Canadian energy developer, said the 72-foot-tall buoy began taking on water late last week and sank just one day before engineers were going to remove it.
The company plans to recover the $2 million buoy next spring, when the ocean calms, Clark told The Oregonian newspaper.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
ROTFLMAO!
Reminds me of that baby seal(?) that was helped, released and then swallowed by a whale while the do gooders filmed it.
I just couldn't help it.
It will roll. Think of a dog on a rope.
The buoy is probably anchored to the bottom. It also probably has a pinger on it, so it can be easily located.IMHO
Regards,
GtG
Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off
Sea otter, killer whale (Orca), Prince William Sound, AK.
$30K to save, clean, rehab and release ‘lunch’.
Been built
From the Wiki (wave energy)
In the United States, the Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative[2] is funding the building of a commercial wave-power park at Reedsport, Oregon.[3]
The project will utilize the PowerBuoy[4] technology which consists of modular, ocean-going buoys. The rising and falling of the waves moves the buoy-like structure creating mechanical energy which is converted into electricity and transmitted to shore over a submerged transmission line.
A 40 kW buoy has a diameter of 12 feet (4 m) and is 52 feet (16 m) long, with approximately 13 feet of the unit rising above the ocean surface. Using the three-point mooring system, they are designed to be installed one to five miles (8 km) offshore in water 100 to 200 feet (60 m) deep.
An example of a surface following device is the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter. The sections of the device articulate with the movement of the waves, each resisting motion between it and the next section, creating pressurized oil to drive a hydraulic ram which drives a hydraulic motor. T
wo commecial projects utilizing Pelamis technology are under construction, one in Portugal the Aguçadora Wave Park near Póvoa de Varzim which will initially use three Pelamis P-750 machines generating 2.25 MW. [5]. Funding for a 3 MW wave farm in Scotland was announced on February 20, 2007 and is projected to use four Pelamis machines.[6].
With the Wave Dragon wave energy converter large “arms” focus waves up a ramp into an offshore reservoir. The water returns to the ocean by the force of gravity via hydroelectric generators.
Coal and oil are by far cheaper, even with oil at 93 a barrel.
You laugh..... Consider that virtually all such projects are financed at least in part with grants. Guess the source of the grants.
I believe that system is deployed in Portugal and other areas as well. I’ve read recent articles on it. It’s in use.
It's tethered but that doesn't rule out someone going and getting it before they get there....
And Nuclear costs about $2000 per kW of capacity to build... so if this cost $2 million for 40 kW, then it is about 250 times as expensive as a Nuclear plant.
Naturally, costs would decrease with mass production.
And this likely would have significantly lower operating costs than a nuclear plant.
So while it may be expensive, I’m all for research into this. After all, we didn’t figure out how to build a nuclear reactor cheaply, efficiently, or even safely on our first attempt. We managed a partial meltdown TWICE at Idaho National Labs at both EBR-1 and SL-1 in the early days, and killed a few workers.... should we have given up then because things went seriously wrong and the things weren’t cheap?
Construction costs, operating costs, maintenance costs, lifetime. Wind power and wave power and sun power might be free, but the thing you use to catch the power sure isn’t free.
I still gotta laugh.
A bouy that's not designed to NOT take on water?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Pretty simple answer 8-)
True... there are those costs... but the operating and maintenance costs are generally significantly lower than alternatives....
I still say research into this is well worth the money... we’ve had more problems and far more cost in $$$ and lives in developing other sources of power.
BTW, the test was supposed to have helped determine potential cost reductions. I don’t think skimping on the bilge pump is a good idea... :P
As a side note, the cost of this prototype wasn’t much different than the cost of many automotive prototypes. Standard cost for a prototype car is generally placed at $500,000-1,000,000 or more. Yet they sell for $15,000-20,000 later.... In other words, using prototype costs doesn’t give us the best idea of what these things would cost IF they were put to use....
The turkey waste plant was funded on a huge grant and it is producing a whopping 200 barrels of diesel a day. There’s an alternative.
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