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September 12, 2007

Comments

greg

I think this aproach to harnessing wave power will have a second benefit. It can help smooth out the surface of the water around ports and areas with wave problems.

bigTom

greg: Diminition of wave power is more likley a problem than a selling point. One wave enegy project off Englands coast was opposed by surfing interests. The interests of sportsmen and environmentalist can often conflict.

greg

Tom
I don't agree. You have enough ports that are not suitable for surfing. It may not be a good idea to install a project like this in front of Waikiki. Besides it doesn't mean you will be creating waterskiing conditions. Many places in the world could use these bouys instead of solid structures to help control sand drift.

Gregor

They might as well put a small wind generator and solar panel on top of them while they are at it.

Stephen Boulet

This seems more space efficient than the Pelamis device. Interesting that there is such a variety of design for wave energy.

Stephen

Tom Konrad

Problem with putting these things near harbors: even especially turbulent harbors probably do not have enough wave motion to generate eletricity cheaply. I expect these things work best precisely where the surfers like to surf.

Solar panels & wind turbines: I think I actually saw a picture of one with panels and small turbines on it... but my guess those are just to power systems to monitor the performance of the trial bouy.

bigTom

greg, I hope you are right, I'd love to see this sort of stuff take-off. I suspect there is still some serious engineering to be done to insure long lifetime in the marine environment. Wave power would make a nice complement to wind and solar, especially as it generally increases at (moderately) high latitudes.

JohnBo

I doubt this technology will be very successful for large-scale power. It has moving parts in a seawater environment that will require expensive materials and maintenance. It might be good for places like Kodiak Island in Alaska. But how can this low energy technology compete in most locations? I would be interested in the cost per kWe from such a system.

bassi offshore

It fantastic device, I 'd like know more aboout it, we can use twin on our system to improve them !!!

www.bassioffshore.com

Kit P

AquaBuOY 2.0 MIA. Somewhere on the ocean floor off the coast near Newport, Oregon.

Andrea

the comment above

"It fantastic device, I 'd like know more aboout it, we can use twin on our system to improve them !!!" is a spam comment, please remove the weblink and the name of the website

Bob Wallace

Wave farms are not likely to interfere with surfers. They aren't going to position these devices in breaking surf, but further offshore.

The problem of keeping something floating in salt water is well understood. We've got ships that have been operating in these conditions for decades.

The fact that Finavera's prototype sunk at the end of the test period is insignificant. That unit was not designed to last for more than a few months, not years. They'll haul out the device once the winter storms are over and figure out where they need to beef up their float system.

What is important is that they were able to prove their models and can now go ahead with larger scale tests.

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Besides it doesn't mean you will be creating waterskiing conditions. Many places in the world could use these bouys instead of solid structures to help control sand drift.

r4

It may not be a good idea to install a project like this in front of Waikiki. Besides it doesn't mean you will be creating waterskiing conditions. Many places in the world could use these bouys instead of solid structures to help control sand drift.

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Wave farms are not likely to interfere with surfers. They aren't going to position these devices in breaking surf, but further offshore.

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I suspect there is still some serious engineering to be done to insure long lifetime in the marine environment. Wave power would make a nice complement to wind and solar.

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