America’s first wave-produced power goes online in Hawaii

By some estimates, the ocean’s endless motion packs enough power to meet a quarter of America’s energy needs and dramatically reduce the nation’s reliance on oil, gas and coal without adding to global warming emissions.  But wave energy technology lags well behind wind and solar power, with important technical hurdles still to be overcome.

Hawaii would seem a natural site for such technology. As any surfer can tell you, it is blessed with powerful waves. The island state also has the nation’s highest electricity costs — largely because of its heavy reliance on oil delivered by sea.

Off the coast of Hawaii, a tall buoy bobs and sways in the water, using the rise and fall of the waves to generate electricity.  The current travels through an undersea cable for a mile to a military base, where it feeds into Oahu’s power grid—the first wave-produced electricity to go online in the U.S.

By some estimates, the ocean’s endless motion packs enough power to meet a quarter of America’s energy needs and dramatically reduce the nation’s reliance on oil, gas and coal. But wave energy technology lags well behind wind and solar power, with important technical hurdles still to be overcome.

To that end, the Navy has established a test site in Hawaii, with hopes the technology can someday be used to produce clean, renewable power for offshore fueling stations for the fleet and provide electricity to coastal communities in fuel-starved places around the world.

Jose Zayas, a director of the Wind and Water Power Technologies Office at the U.S. Energy Department, which helps fund the Hawaii site, said the United States could get 20 to 28 percent of its energy needs from waves without encroaching on sensitive waters such as marine preserves.

“When you think about all of the states that have water along their coasts … there’s quite a bit of wave energy potential,” he said.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2016-09-wave-produced-electricity-online-hawaii.html#jCp