Energy Newsletter
February 2, 2010	Volume 1, Number 5
In This Issue The Foresight Science & Technology Energy Newsletter A Note from Foresight An Ocean of Energy Informational Energy Links DOE EERE Site on Ocean Energy DOE EERE Marine and Hydrokinetic Technology Database Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition Web Site EPRI Ocean Energy Web Site Marine Renewable Energy Consortium Web Site Foresight Links www.ForesightST.com Foresight Science & Technology’s homepage. http://doecapreg.foresightst.com Register for the DOE SBIR TAP Portal! www.T2Plus2.com Site of Foresight’s unique, comprehensive web-based technology commercialization service, T2+2™. http://batteries.foresightst.com Foresight’s portal dedicated to advanced batteries and ultracapacitors, sponsored by the Department of Energy. About Us http://www.ForesightST.com Have Feedback for Us? We are always interested in hearing from you- Send us an email at t2mentor@foresightst.com. Foresight Science & Technology Incorporated 430 Angell Street Providence, RI 02906 401-273-4844 If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please email Matt Wool at matt.wool@foresightst.com.	A Note from Foresight Science & Technology Being based in beautiful Rhode Island, we at Foresight Science & Technology are fully aware of the beauty and power of the ocean. However, it is only recently that we have begun to think about the ocean’s power literally- that is, how its energy can be harnessed for clean electricity generation. Although the fields of wave and tidal power technologies are nascent, they are developing quickly, and it is important for anyone involved in renewable energy to have a handle on these technologies and their markets. Below is a primer to bring readers not familiar with this industry up to speed. And please remember, as a registered user of the DOE SBIR TAP portal, you have access to market research, training and tools available nowhere else that will be extremely helpful to you in writing SBIR proposals and commercializing technologies. To access the portal, all you have to do is go to www.T2Plus2.com. If you have forgotten your username and/or password, please contact me directly at matt.wool@foresightst.com. Enjoy the newsletter! Matt Wool VP, Software & Internet Products Foresight Science & Technology  An Ocean of Energy Tapping Water’s Enormous Power Potential While many of us know that 70% of the Earth’s surface is water, it is less common knowledge that the amount of energy that can be harvested from the oceans is estimated to be twice the amount of electricity produced by the world today. In the U.S. alone, wave and tidal technologies have the potential to contribute a combined 370 terawatt hours (TWh) per year to electricity generation. This is more than twice the potential of Canada and almost five times that of the U.K. In order to tap this potential, a host of new technologies that take advantage of the ocean’s natural mechanical and thermal energy are under development, with many of these expected to be deployed commercially within five to ten years. The three main ocean power technologies are wave, tidal, and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). Wave power appears to be the most promising of these, with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) rating the primary resource potential of ocean waves as “good” and the technical extractible limit as “fair.” Wave power is slightly further along in development than the others, edging out tidal technology due to more advanced production and part-scale models, and outpacing both tidal and OTEC in terms of the number of new concept and detail designs. Wave power’s level of maturity is evidenced by the sheer number of competing wave technologies, which include both offshore and onshore systems. In the last decade, onshore systems began to see deployment, starting with the WaveGen, an oscillating water column that became the first shore-based grid-connected wave power unit when it was installed off Scotland’s Island of Islay in 2000. More recently, offshore systems have emerged, such as the WaveDragon, which became the first offshore grid-connected wave power unit in 2003. EPRI estimates that global installed wave energy conversion capacity was 4 megawatts (MW) in 2008, comprised mostly of engineering and commercial prototypes. The Institute projects that 20-100 MW could be installed in five to eight years if these prototypes are successful. Tidal energy also has the potential to provide a substantial contribution to electricity generation moving forward- up to 115 TWh/year in the U.S., based on the sites evaluated by EPRI. Most of this potential exists in Alaska; however, there are also opportunities for tidal power in Maine, New York, San Francisco, and in Washington’s Puget Sound. There are three main types of tidal power technology: barrages or dams, tidal fences, and tidal turbines. Of these, tidal turbines represent the least environmentally damaging option, as they don’t block migratory paths of sea life. Current worldwide installed capacity for tidal in-stream energy conversion as of 2008 was 2 MW, with Marine Current Turbine’s SeaGen, a1.2 MW tidal turbine located off the coast of Northern Ireland, accounting for over half of this figure. In the U.S., Verdant Power installed an array of six 35-kilowatt (kW) grid-connected turbines in New York’s East River in 2007. Other demonstration projects are underway worldwide, and, should they prove successful, arrays of 1-10 MW capacity could be installed within the next five to eight years. Finally, there is OTEC, a technology that takes advantage of the temperature differences between the warmer upper layers of the ocean and the colder lower layers. There are three main types of OTEC systems: closed-cycle, open-cycle, and hybrid. In closed cycle systems, warm sea water is used to vaporize a low-boiling point liquid, such as ammonia, with the expanding vapor driving a turbo-generator. The cold seawater is used to condense the vapor and the process is repeated. Similarly, open-cycle systems boil warm sea water in a low-pressure container, with the expanding steam driving a low-pressure turbine, and the cold ocean water used to condense the steam and repeat the process. Hybrid systems, as one might imagine, use features of both. Currently, no OTEC devices are deployed in the field, though there is opportunity to use this technology in the U.S., where the 36° F temperature difference required for optimal operation exists in equatorial zones in the southern part of Florida and in Hawaii. Despite the ample opportunity for using ocean power in the U.S., it is the U.K. that has taken the lead in ocean power technology, aided by financial and technical support from its research centers and universities. The U.S. is making strides, however. Funding in Massachusetts has gone to ocean power start-ups and a technology development center at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and a hydrodynamic research institute at Oregon State University has made that state one of the centers for ocean power in the U.S. Additionally, legislation at the federal level is serving to boost the industry, with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2007 providing the impetus for at least one tidal energy project, carried out by the Navy during a demonstration of Verdant Power’s Kinetic Hydropower System. More recently, the Marine Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2009, introduced in the House and Senate, proposed to establish a Department of Energy program focused on marine renewable energy and authorized $250 million research, development, demonstration, deployment, and other activities. Ocean power technologies face many hurdles to their widespread adoption, chief among them competition from fossil fuels, an established, cost-effective power generation technology. However, a new emphasis on marine renewable energy research and development is a positive sign, thrusting the U.S. into a leadership role and boding well for the industry as a whole. Our blue planet has enormous power potential in its expansive oceans; we just need to figure out how to tap it.
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