Email

Print

  Hydrokinetic News

Historic agreement for America’s first utility-scale wave farm

OPT has already tested out a smaller version of its PowerBuoy in Hawaii and Europe

Wave power developer Ocean Power Technologies has taken a major step toward securing the nation’s first license for a utility-scale wave farm.

The New Jersey-based company has signed a ground-breaking settlement agreement with 11 federal and state agencies and three non-governmental stakeholders supporting the installation of the commercial wave power project at Reedsport, Oregon.

The agreement means OPT can go ahead with its plan for 10 wave power machines, called PowerBuoys, that together will generate 1.5 megawatts of renewable energy.

Manufacturing is already underway on the 150-kilowatt machines at OPT’s contractor Oregon Iron Works.

Once the project receives its license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission it will be able to connect up to the grid and supply enough clean energy to provide about 375 homes with electricity.

Dr. George W. Taylor, Executive Chairman of OPT, said today: “This development will help pave the way for the United States to retain a technological advantage in wave power, an advantage that has been ceded to other countries that produce solar panels and wind turbines. Wave energy has the potential to create manufacturing jobs in America, while providing low-cost clean, environmentally benign electricity to help replace the use of fossil fuels.”

PowerBuoy

OPT has already tested out smaller PowerBuoy machines in Hawaii and Spain, and is due to test out the PB150 PowerBuoy in Scotland this year.

The Reedsport project will be located about 2.5 miles from shore, and based on the location is expected to generate about 4,140 megawatt-hours of power per year.

OPT’s PowerBuoys are floating devices that bob up and down on a central base that is tethered to the seabed. As the waves move the floating sections up and down, it drives a turbine to generate power.

Settlement agreement

The first-ever wave energy settlement agreement in the US was reached following “extensive” technical, policy, and legal discussions with city and state officials, regulators and other stakeholders.

It includes measures to prevent and mitigate the wave energy project’s impacts on water resources and wildlife, including an Adaptive Management Plan to set out environmental studies that may be needed.

Dr Taylor explained: “This agreement demonstrates OPT’s commitment to develop wave power in a way that respects the environment and the needs of all who rely on ocean resources for many different uses.”

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, who has been pushing for the development of his state’s wave energy resources, said the settlement agreement was a “groundbreaking” document, and that it was an “exciting time” for Oregon.

He said: “The manufacture of the first buoy has already created dozens of green-energy jobs in Oregon and when the 10-buoy wave power project is built, a whole new industry will be created to benefit our coastal communities.”