Energy security has become a key social, political and technological concern. With this blog we explore which forms of energy we should secure and how that energy security can be made sustainable.
Riding the waves of energy
Lately, the shores of San Francisco, California have been attracting more than wet-suit clad surfers and their boards. A site five miles off the city’s western beach is being considered for a new Oceanside Wave Energy project. Australian energy company BioPower Systems is collaborating with the City of San Francisco to investigate wave energy generation from the Pacific Ocean.
Wave power, not to be confused with tidal power, takes advantage of energy from the actual surface waves of the ocean. People have attempted to harness this power since 1890, but with little success. However, that may change thanks to BioPower Systems application of biomimicry.
The ideas underlying the company’s novel technologies reap the full benefit of billions of years of underwater evolution. The proposed bioWAVE ocean wave power system will sway like sea plants in ocean waves. Each lightweight unit—developed for 250kW, 500kW, 1000kW capacities—will then connect to a utility-size power grid via subsea cables. It’s now predicted that the same Californian waves that propel sundry surfers could generate between 10MW and 100MW of power. That’s enough energy to power between 3,000 to 30,000 homes annually.
If this project is indeed determined feasible—and it does look hopeful—BioPower Systems and the City of San Francisco will begin to develop a way to deliver clean renewable electricity to the city's power grid. By 2012 that “hella rad swell” could be something electrifying.
Click here to view a full animation of the bioWAVE farm in action.
radical dude!
posted by fuddy on 11/12/2009 10:07 pm