OT. The Wave Farm.

[John Sayers]

Youre all aware of the wind farm now imagine the Wave Farm.

 

An Australian company has developed a wave power generator. The current test unit will produce 500KW but bigger ones of 2 megawatts are planned. String ten of them together, anchored off shore, and you have a 20megawatt power station.

More units, more power, the seas the limit. Wind generators operate at full power for about 25% of the time. His wave generator operates at 35%.

 

I heard the CEO/designer discussing it on radio and he made an interesting point. He said wind power has now become so efficient that it can compete economically with fossil fuel power production. He emphasised that alternative power will only become viable when it can compete cost for cost with the current fossil fuel systems.

 

I understand they are testing one off Rhode Island as we speak.

 

Here\'s a link to their web site.

 

Here\'s a link to the radio interview Real Media. about 3/4 way in.

 

He said that Britain had allocated 13bil to wave power generation - why not it's an Island.

 

cheers

john

[Philip OKeefe]

I've seen designs for generators that work off of tides, but this one is somewhat different and fairly clever. Of course, it's only part of the solution, but IMO, things like this, and other "clean" sources of electrical generation are a great idea and should be used whenever and where ever practical. Ditto that for solar and wind power. It's renewable and it cuts down the use of other types of energy... some of which have pretty bad side effects. The more of this type of stuff we use, the less oil and coal we need to burn. Use solar in hot, sunny climates. Use wind power in areas of sustained, high winds. Use tidal and wave focusing technology in appropriate ocean / coastal areas... you get the idea. If a renewable and clean power generating resource is viable in a particular area, why not use it?