Wave Power

A recent development over the past few years in the alternative energy field has been the idea of wave power.  That is, energy generated through waves in the ocean.  I would have rather had them call it moon power, but that’s besides the point.  The basic premise of this idea is that turbines are placed in the ocean off the shore, but close enough to feel the effect of waves, and the waves create energy through turning the turbines.  To describe it in a picture:

(http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2010/ph240/bonifacio1/)

That link also has a lot of mathematical implementations for all my fellow math majors out there!  In general this seems like a great idea; the waves always are happening and the generation is constant unlike wind energy, which requires wind, and solar energy, which requires no clouds.  However, as always, this is something that sounds too good to be true.

The first major setback of the application of wave energy from an economic perspective is that the capital cost of implementing the technology is unimaginably high.  This isn’t surprising though, because it basically requires the company to build the ridiculous platform pictured above that goes relatively deeply underwater in order to even think about getting energy from the ocean.  The cost of a single turbine system is $26.9 million (http://www.surfpower.ca/systemcost.html).  In reality, the amount of energy that a single system generates is negligible.  Furthermore, considering the destructive, unrelenting force of waves hitting the shell of the turbine system, there is a high risk of failure, destruction, or similar catastrophic meltdowns of the energy generating system.  The day to day costs would, I imagine, be absurd.  Furthermore, a single hurricane system would most likely destroy the entire turbine, considering how proximity to an ocean amplifies the effects of natural disasters.

Another major current problem facing wave energy is the incredible difficulty that electric companies have to go through in order to convert the energy into useable sources (http://www.economist.com/node/11482565).  Wave energy as it is cannot be simply channeled into electricity like solar and wind.  It has to go through additional processes in order to reach consumer households and markets.  To put this in perspective, the cost of wave energy is estimated to be on average $1 per kilowatt hour.  That’s more than nuclear energy, the current most expensive form of energy from a relative capital investment perspective.

In addition to this, the limited locations that exist and are viable for these types of systems are severely limited.  The ideal area would face little to no major storms, have enough waves to generate power but not damage the system, and then finally the area would have to approve the production of that property.  Furthermore, the relative land costs of a long stretch of beach would be absurd.  Beach-side property is among the most expensive in the world.  While those attempting to develop a wave energy system would most likely choose somewhere that doesn’t have high property costs, the input costs for land (not even thinking about the capital costs of equipment that I mentioned earlier) would still be much higher than purchasing a field for solar/wind production.

Now, while there a massive amounts of con’s that I listed throughout this post, wave energy definitely has a future.  For example, if technology was created that placed the overall systems underwater, and solved the current issues of being an eyesore and facing damage risks, the investing opportunity would be tremendous.  The biggest issue currently is the amount of risk associated with the wave energy systems; the chance that the entire system washes away because of a storm after millions in input capital costs unsettles the stomachs of even the most risk adverse.  One interesting idea I do have for the pursuit of this energy would be to utilize waves created in non-ocean systems.  For example, waves created in the great lakes would provide a much safer investment opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs attempting to enter the energy industry.  If these waves in lakes could be utilized cheaply to their full potential in the future, a massive amount of the world’s energy focus would most definitely shift to wave energy, and we would ride the wave to a new energy future free of fossil fuels.

Comments

  1. David J Kutz says:

    Nice work man. Given all that I know about alternative energy, I agree that wave power can seem a bit out there, but the final point that you make hits the nail on the head. So many of the cons of wave power rely on the assumption that the waves are in an ocean. But like you said, what about the Great Lakes?? I’ve never heard of a hurricane in Michigan. “Beachfront property” along the lakes is also nowhere near as expensive as, say, the coast of New Jersey (even though I can’t imagine wanting to live in New Jersey..). At the same time, the capital required to start a project is massive, but if the right location were found, I imagine we could get at least a trial. Until then, though, we’ll just wait and sea (bad pun, sorry).

  2. Kyle Starzynski says:

    Wave energy is something I’ve looked into before, and I thought about using it in my CI blog as well. There’s definitely a lot of advancement to be made in the area, but its not worth using now because it’s so underresearched. Maybe wave energy will be the next ‘future of energy’ kind of like solar power is.

  3. Ben, great post. I really like how you examine the economics behind energy, as son many people tend to focus on strictly the environmental side of energies. Economics is just as important! And while, like you said, wave energy seems like a good idea because there are always waves, the economics of it just don’t make sense yet. And $1 per kWh is the least sensible part of it. I just learned about Wattage in physics, and this is an EXTREMELY high cost. Maybe once the technology develops more there will be a place for wave energy in the future. Nice post!

  4. Zach Hemler says:

    Great post Ben. Liked your shout out to the Moon at the beginning. But I’d be surprised if wave energy has a future. $1 per KWh is absolutely insane. It’d cost $2.50 just to dry your hair, and $40 to run an electric water heater for a day. Completely unrealistic. In addition to the cost, it sounds like there’s a lot of potential for disaster, as you noted. Normally, I get very excited about new ways of harnessing clean power, but not so much for wave energy. I think effort should be put into further developing more viable renewables, like hydroelectric dams or solar, rather than this.

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