http://www.bammm.org/Wave_Energy.htm

Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 07:46:47 -0700
From: "JODY MCCAFFREE" <mccaffrees@verizon.net>  View Contact Details View Contact Details   Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Wave energy - The Right Direction for Oregon & the US
To: "Wayne Graham - nocancer" <nocancer@yahoo.com>
 

Wave Energy - The Right Direction for Oregon and the U.S.

Notes taken from Meeting at Reedsport High School Pacific Auditorium - Oct 4, 2006
Speaker:  Steven Kopf - Marketing Rep
by Jody McCaffree
 
Ocean Power Technologies Inc hopes to have it's first Wave Energy Buoy up an running by late next summer 2007 off the Coast of Reedsport, Oregon.  They are planning on having 13 Buoys originally which they will test over 2007 - 2008 and then they hope to increase the number of buoys to 200.  The Buoys will be spaced 100 yards apart and will be in 4 rows of 50.  When complete the facility should provide around 50 megawatts of electricity with each Buoy providing around 1/4 of a megawatt of energy.  One megawatt of energy we were told is enough to power around 400 homes.   50mw  X   400 homes/mw = 20,000 homes. 
 
The wave park will take up an area approximately 3 miles going North and South and 1/2 mile going East and West for a total of 1&1/2 square miles of ocean surface.  The buoys ride about 15 feet about the water line and will sit in 28 - 32 Fathoms of water.  This is about 2 & 1/2 miles from the shoreline.  Their low profile should mean that they are not visible from shore.  Sub sea cables from the buoys will run along the ocean floor preferably over sandy ocean bottoms back to substations on-shore.  The Reedsport location is ideal because of the effluent outlet pipe once used by International Paper that goes from the former I.P. site out into the ocean.  
 
There are currently two research development projects underway with a test buoy in Hawaii and one in New Jersey.  Ocean Power Technologies plans to develop a Wave Park off the North Coast of Spain about the same time the Reedsport facility is developed.  These parks are 100 million dollar investments and should provide 20-25 full time sustainable jobs to the local area.  They are hoping to manufacture the buoys in Oregon for the Reedsport Wave Park.          
 
Wave Energy is Environmentally benign and non-polluting: no fuel, no exhaust gases, no noise, with minimal visual impact.
 
For more info on Ocean Technologies go to:
Ocean Technologies web site:
http://www.oceanpowertechnologies.com/
 
Video:
http://www.exn.ca/video/?video=exn20051114-buoy.asx
 
Write to FERC (Docket # P-12713) (www.ferc.gov) and tell them you support Wave Energy!!
 
The following was a news article that came out in our local paper about the meeting.  I am correct above on the ocean depth of 28 - 32 fathoms.  The paper article also did not get the amount of homes that could be powered by the Wave Energy Park correct either.  They should have said between 15,000 and 20,000 homes instead of 2,000.   
 
TheWorldLink.com
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2006/10/10/news/news01101006.txt

Wave energy buoy would be U.S. first

By Susan Chambers, Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 2:51 PM PDT

REEDSPORT - About 100 people went to Pacific Auditorium here when Ocean Power Technologies consultant Steve Kopf fielded waves of questions Wednesday night about wave energy and the potential buoy park to be established off of Gardiner.

It was a meeting that also satisfied part of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licensing process for which OPT has applied. OPT plans to convert energy from ocean waves to electricity.

Much of the project consists of unknowns Kopf and Port of Umpqua Commissioner Keith Tymchuk said.

“Nobody's ever done this before,” Tymchuk said during introductory comments. “Nowhere in the United States has there been a project like this permitted before.”

OPT has installed wave energy buoys in Hawaii and New Jersey, but those are smaller buoys, single test buoys for research.

The buoys proposed for the coast of Oregon would be about double the size - the visible portion of the buoys would extend about 15 feet above the water - and the wave park eventually would have four rows of 50 buoys for a total of 200. The park would take up 1.5 square miles of ocean - 1/2 mile wide by 3 miles long. The buoys could generate enough electricity to power about 2,000 homes, Kopf said.

The port and other Reedsport and Douglas County officials and state agencies have been working with wave energy companies and Oregon State University for more than a year to develop a buoy park off of Gardiner. One of the key advantages of the Gardiner site is the former International Paper mill site that has an effluent pipe that stretches underground to the ocean and an electricity substation already on site.

More importantly, Kopf said, is that the easements for that pipe already are in place.

Oregon isn't the only state seeking renewable energy sources. California also is seeking alternative energy projects, Kopf said, but Oregon, and Reedsport in particular, has several advantages California doesn't.

The abundance of waves is excellent, Kopf said, Oregon offers more financial incentives and, most importantly, there was significant momentum and public support for the project.

“We're here because we think Oregon and specifically this part of the cost, wants this type of project,” Kopf said.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski also supports the project. He has organized an Oregon Solutions team to help streamline the process. Tymchuk and state Sen. Joanne Verger, D-Coos Bay, co-chair the group. It met earlier Wednesday with about 35 stakeholders.

Kopf said there has been some concern about the loss of fishable grounds where the wave park would be situated. Both Dungeness crab fishermen and OPT like the same kind of ocean area: sandy ocean floor, in depths between 32 and 48 fathoms of water, or between about 192 and 288 feet.

“These parks have some barriers to those (fishing) industries,” Oregon Department of Energy spokesman Justin Klure said, “but we're trying to find a balance.”