Harvesting the power of the sea
A week ago I wrote a gushy gee-whiz piece in this space about
the power of giant waves. That brought back something I’ve been
thinking about nearly every time I look at our utility bill, or buy
gas for $3.25 a gallon.
Harvesting the power of the sea
A week ago I wrote a gushy gee-whiz piece in this space about the power of giant waves. That brought back something I’ve been thinking about nearly every time I look at our utility bill, or buy gas for $3.25 a gallon.
And that’s the incalculable power in the heaving sea. Some people have been trying to calculate that power, however, and news accounts this week revealed that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. plans to support the nation’s first commercial wave power plant.
The installation is planned for an array of eight buoys 2.5 miles offshore of Eureka.
The plant is to be built by a Canadian firm, Finavera. The power generated by the plant will be sold under a contract with PG&E.
The installation resembles one of several designs outlined in the San Francisco Chronicle several weeks ago.
It’s compelling in its simplicity.
Lift a gallon jug of water. That’s eight pounds. A barrel weighs more than 400. The rising and falling of even a fairly placid sea contains a staggering amount of power.
The planned installation is small, enough to supply about 1,500 homes, perhaps.
The location was picked because it seldom is placid. Waves are nearly constant.
The firm and PG&E did not disclose the cost of the plant, and a test generator sunk earlier this year, so the venture is not without risk for Finavera.
The power-generating buoys are long cylinders, floating upright, and nearly completely submerged in the sea. As they rise and fall, a pump within the cylinder compresses seawater and forces it through a turbine, generating electricity that cables deliver shoreward.
If this small venture into commercial wave power production works, Finavera hopes to install enough units to supply 75,000 homes with power.
Before that happens, the public will be allowed to comment on the potential impacts of such a project. Some activists have asked, for example, if the steel cable tethers that hold the buoys in place might harm migrating whales.
Like so many other things confronting us as grownups, our power needs represent a decision, or a whole host of decisions, actually. How much power are we willing to do without? Do we prefer wind power to damming rivers? Is nuclear acceptable? What about using fossil fuels? Is wave power better than wind power?
You get the idea. Perhaps the answer lies in considering all the alternatives, then making more informed decisions.
It’s early in the technology game, but the potential for power in the sea makes it hard to resist.
In other news
We’re in the throes of one of North America’s strangest collective endeavors: the Christmas Bird Count.
Birders across North America endeavor to count every bird in mapped circles from Prudhoe Bay to Key West during a set window around Christmas. The day typically starts before dawn and ends with a dinner in which lists are tabulated and bad stories and jokes told. It defies the stereotype, but the dinners can even get a little rowdy on occasion.
Participants need not be accomplished birders. People are always needed to keep tallies on clipboards as the day progresses. It’s the best way for a beginning birder to become a more accomplished one, too.
Local counts that have yet to take place, the date, name and phone number or e-mail volunteers may use are: Monterey Peninsula, Dec. 28, Sheila, 372-3809; Calero-Morgan Hill, Dec. 29, Ann Verdi, 408-266-5108; Pinnacles, Dec. 29, Rusty Scalf 510-666-9936; Moss Landing, Jan. 1, Bob Ramer,
br****@sb*******.net
.
