NOV 18

Wave power is an intriguing but difficult proposition. It offers a fairly steady source of power that is more regular than many other renewable power systems, but the marine environment is particularly harsh and difficult to work in. A number of wave power projects have struggled in the past few years, which shows how difficult this approach can be.

A mobile wave power generating system proposed by Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation would install wave generators along with banks of storage batteries onto ships or barges for portable wave power generation. The ship would go to sea and deploy its generators, and then return back to port and connect its batteries to the grid when it was fully charged.

These ships would need to be outfitted with millions of dollars worth of storage batteries, and would have storage measured in megawatt-hours. One advantage an integrated power system incorporating this kind of vessel would have is that it could also serve as a grid-tied power storage system. If other renewable sources were producing additional power, there might be times when it would make more sense to keep the barges tied up at the dock and providing their storage capacity instead of sailing out to generate additional power.

The basic premise for this has been around for a few years. Existing ships might be able to be repurposed for use as power stations, rather than requiring that new vessels be built. Additionally, while permanently installed wave power systems need to be robust enough to withstand the strongest storms, the mobility of the ship-based system would allow it to be moved back to safety in a harbor when severe weather threatened, which would allow for lighter weight construction.

The cost of electricity generated in this way has been estimated to be as low as 15 cents per kilowatt-hour, as compared with 30 to 65 cents per kilowatt-hour with other wave power systems. There would also be considerably fewer regulatory hurdles that would have to be overcome since the generators would be vessels, rather than permanently installed structures.

via: ecomagination

Comments (5)

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Why Not
written by Francis, November 21, 2011

Save the operating expense and simply install the wave generators on extremely long piers?

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does it really save?
written by Matt, November 22, 2011

This plan has extra costs:
- Having it crewed
- Moving it to shore and back
- Can't produce when in port or to/from

If the idea is you save because in initial cost because you don't have to stand up to storms. Wonder if a long off shore connect, like for a off sore wind farm, might not pay for itself. Then you leave the boat there; and only crew it to move it out of harms way of a storm.

Wild A%% Guess, this idea never leaves port.

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How to Recycle Oil Tankers...
written by Carol S., November 25, 2011

It should be fairly easy to recycle the massive oil tankers that ply our seas nowadays, occasionally leaving environmental disaster in their wake, into these useful, eco-friendly clean power generators and storage facilities.

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Storms on the High Seas
written by Fencerdave, December 05, 2011

I think the point of having it be floating separate from shore is that it would be able to seek out storms for more constant high power, that it would not need to be built on or near fragile reef ecosystems, and that in general there is potential for much bigger storms when one gets off of the continental shelf.

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...
written by electronics recycling, February 07, 2012

An interesting idea - particularily as the generators themselves may actually add to the stablility of the vessel. Unfortunately they would also add to the drag making it less efficient under many circumstances, but if the right route could be found then it might be worthwhile.

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