Jan 18 2011
The focus worldwide is on developing clean energy resources offshore. The Massachusetts Cape Wind and Ocean Power Technologies Programs are two such clean energy offshore projects. Massachusetts has been famous as a whaling state, utilizing whale oil as a source of fuel. Currently, the focus is on green technologies.
It is planning its first offshore wind installation at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal at Cape Wind. The Cape Wind project gained approval in November 2010, when the Public Utilities signed a Power Purchase Agreement for 15 years with the National Grid. This approval would help achieve the Cape Wind Project construction leading to the installation of 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound, using the experience gained from the installation of 800 wind turbines in the European region.
According to Ian Bowles, Energy & Environmental Affairs Secretary, getting approval for this contract was a big achievement, as this would ensure that the first ever offshore wind project would be established in the Massachusetts Coast and the region’s economic development would receive a boost. This would also help the other power suppliers and utilities in the State to purchase the Cape Wind project’s surplus power. NSTAR is the location for the proposed facility where the electric grid would be connected and at least 18 months are required for the turbine manufacturing, offshore electric cabling, upland cable and park construction, which would be done in project phases.
Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) in 1997, commenced ocean trials off the New Jersey Coast. They used a floating buoy to capture the energy of a wave mainly to prove that an ocean’s wave not only propels surfers backwards, upside down and sideways but also creates electricity. The Mechanical Stroking produced by each wave movement powers an electrical generator and the electricity thus generated is transmitted on shore via an underwater power cable. The 10 MW power station after being assembled into a multiple PowerBuoy Wave Farm would take up merely 30 acres of ocean space.
The company in 2003 was focusing more on its work in the UK and in the Spanish waters. However in 2010, OPT finished developing its first grid connection of a wave energy unit in the US, at the Marine Corps Base, Hawaii. Thus OPT’s PowerBuoy system with a 40 MW output complies with both international and national standards for clean energy resources. This technology transforms ocean wave energy into electricity for grid- based applications. At present, the PowerBuoy is situated near the coast in Oahu and is 100 feet deep in water. According to the CEO of OPT, Charles F. Dunleavy, the company had been conducting tests using this technology in the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans for many years, with a team of marine operators and engineers to perfect it. He also thanked both the Naval Facilities Group and the Navy for their support in making this project a success.
Source: http://www.oceanpowertechnologies.com/