Australian Rare Earths

Australian Alternative Energy Forum


Not Really a Forum, more of my memory aid.


Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice.


Go Back   Alternative Energy Forums > Alternative Energy Discussion > Tidal and Wave

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 09-24-2009, 05:44 AM
laura010
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default Tidal Energy

Anyone who has been caught in a nasty undercurrent knows the power of the tides. And just as windmills can covert the physical energy in a breeze into electricity, tidal turbines can do the same for the motion in the ocean. The engineering principle is no different — the steady currents found in coastal of water like Canada's Bay of Fundy turn the rotors of an underwater turbine. But tidal streams are far more predictable than wind, which means utilities using tidal don't have to worry about unexpected still days. The cost of putting equipment under water and concerns about the impact on the marine environment have kept tidal experimental, but that's beginning to change. Verdant Power recently completed a successful trial in New York City's East River, and the UK-based Marine Current Turbines is preparing for a 10.5 MW project off the coast of Wales.

 

Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice.

Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 11-15-2009, 01:01 PM
Alite Alite is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 23
Send a message via AIM to Alite
Default

Australia is almost uniquely situated to take advantage of the wave energy breaking on our shores. South Africa is another country that could benefit greatly from wave energy. Wave energy is truly without CO2 emissions, without the production cost of solar cells, and could be used to produce desalinated water - again without so called dirty energy cost. It is un-fathomable that the Australian government would not support it, yet they have not.
I hope they will in the future.

 

Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice.

Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 11-16-2009, 01:46 AM
Sparty Sparty is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,765
Default Some funding for wave but Carnegie was neglected??

Australia funds utility-scale wave power station

11 November 2009
Four renewable energy projects will receive AU$235 million from the federal government in Australia, including a 19 MW wave farm off the coast of Victoria.

The Australian subsidiary of Ocean Power Technologies has received AU$66.5m to build the wave power facility that will supply green energy to 10,000 homes. Construction will take place in three phases, starting in the second quarter of 2010.


The wave energy project will be a partnership with Leighton Contractors and conducted through Victorian Wave Partners, a company formed by Ocean Power Technologies Australasia and Leighton following an agreement signed in December 2008. It will be the first commercial-scale ocean energy project in Australia and will use OPT’s PowerBuoy technology.

"The PowerBuoy® is an offshore wave energy converter, most of which is submerged below the water's surface. Inside, a piston-like structure moves as the PowerBuoy® bobs with the rise and fall of the waves. This movement drives a generator, producing electricity, which is sent to the shore by an underwater cable. An OPT "power plant" will consist of an array of identical PowerBuoys® that are electrically connected to provide the desired power capacity."


Note:
It surprised quite a few investors that the Fed choose the little known Ocean Power Technologies over Carnegie Corporation's (ASX: CNM) "A Wave energy company that aims to produce electricity from fully submerged pumps which are anchored on the ocean floor. Wave energy is tapped to pressurise and pump seawater onshore where it spins turbines to generate electricity. The pressure can also delalinate salt water, using "reverse osmosis desalination" technology.


However OPT does have powerful backing with Woodside and Leighton's on-board.

 

Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice.

Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 01-12-2010, 06:33 AM
hostonbarry
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

This method of electricity generation relies on capturing the energy contained in the movement of water with the tides. There are two types of tidal energy. The first is the energy in the water current between the incoming and outgoing tide. The second is the energy in the rising and falling of the water between high and low tides.

 

Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice.

Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 05-08-2011, 01:15 AM
Sparty Sparty is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,765
Default Catalyst ABC - Good review of wave technology

Of late there seems to be some interest in wave technology...

I saw an interesting segment by Catalyst on the Carnegie technology indicating that they are approaching commercialization in 2012 - 2013.

"Carnegie Wave Energy Ltd is one of only three companies worldwide with a wave power plant currently in commercial pilot. If all goes well, and every indication so far is positive, CWE will by 2012 have proven that wave power is cheap, efficient and pollution free and can be used to produce either electricity or desalinated water - or both together in any combination - at a significant cost saving to any other renewable energy method for coastal cities."

See: http://www.powergenworldwide.com/index/display/wire-news-display/1412375476.html

 

Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice.

Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 08:58 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.