NNMREC Work Session: Regional Developments in Marine Energy March 23, 2011 Introduction to Marine Energy Brian Polagye University of Washington Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center

NNMREC Marine Renewable Energy Tidal and Ocean Current Offshore Wind Wave Ocean Thermal

NNMREC Tidal Energy Basics 2-4 m/s m Foundation Drive Train Rotor  5-20 m  rpm Gearbox-Generator Direct Drive Generator Pile Gravity Base

NNMREC Global Tidal Energy Installations ORPC Verdant Power EMEC  OpenHydro  Atlantis  Tidal Generation Ltd.  Voith Hydro EMEC  OpenHydro  Atlantis  Tidal Generation Ltd.  Voith Hydro FORCE  OpenHydro  CleanCurrent  MCT  Atlantis FORCE  OpenHydro  CleanCurrent  MCT  Atlantis CleanCurrent MCT Pulse Tidal Hammerfest Strøm Voith Hydro Snohomish PUD/Open Hydro

NNMREC Wave Energy Devices Point Absorber Attenuator Overtopping Oscillating Water Column Oscillating Water Surge

NNMREC Global Wave Energy Installations Finavera EMEC  Pelamis  Aquamarine EMEC  Pelamis  Aquamarine Pelamis OPT WaveGen OceanLinx Wave Dragon Wavebob CPT

NNMREC Technology Feasibility Economic Viability Environmental Compatibility Societal Concerns Marine Renewable Energy Challenge

NNMREC Technology Feasibility Opportunities Challenges  Generation of energy from renewable resources  Leveraging of existing energy and maritime technologies  Deploying technology at low cost in harsh environments  Lack of standards  Lack of test facilities

NNMREC Environmental Compatibility Opportunities Challenges  Develop truly sustainable sources of energy  Mitigate potential environmental impacts through careful design  Leverage projects as cabled observatories to better understand the oceans  Regulatory “chicken and egg”  Lack of prioritization for studies  Necessary monitoring technologies are under- developed  Overlap with basic research questions

NNMREC Societal Concerns Opportunities Challenges  Renewable energy displacing fossil fuels  De facto marine sanctuaries  Low/no viewshed conflicts  Existing uses  Information gaps for marine spatial planning

NNMREC Economic Viability Opportunities Challenges  Local source of renewable energy  Reinvigorate local manufacturing  Distributed generation as an alternative to transmission upgrades  Energy is cheap  Cost to deploy and operate marine renewables currently higher than terrestrial alternatives  Long and uncertain permitting requirements increase cost and financial risk

NNMREC What is the Future for Marine Renewables?  Environmental and social costs outweigh the benefits of marine renewable power  A single technology may not be able to satisfy all human needs  Oceans are already too crowded by existing uses Pessimists  Astounding progress in the past five years. For example, rated power for tidal turbines is already on-par with modern wind turbines  UK roadmap calls for 2 GW of wave and tidal to come online by 2020  US roadmap calls for GW of wave and tidal to come online in the next 20 years Optimists