Resource World Magazine

74 www.resourceworld.com A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 EXPLORING WAVE POWER As the universal need for renewable energy grows, scientists are exploring harnessing ocean-wave power. Exploring this pos- sibility is the West Coast Wave Initiative (WCWI). According to the WCWI website, ocean waves have a higher energy concen- tration than wind energy or solar energy. Rough estimates of global available wave power are one terawatt (TW) near shore and 10 TW off shore. World power con- sumption is approximately 10 TW. To study ways to harness this power as a global resource, British Columbia's University of Victoria, the WCWI, and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS), a multi-disciplinary group of academics and industry members is com- mitted to quantitatively determining the feasibility, impacts and possible structure of wave energy conversion on Canada's west coast. The group is developing wave energy resource assessment methods, numerical simulation tools for wave energy converters (WEC) and numerical grid integration toolboxes to create an accu- rate assessment of the feasibility of wave energy conversion in British Columbia. The research team has mapped the waves off British Columbia's coast at a 50-metre resolution using data from the past 12 years. This information could help wave technology companies who want to test their instruments on different kinds of waves, said Dr. Bryson Robertson, P.Eng., Program Manager at WFWI. "We under- stand the wave climate off the coast better than anyone else. We ran the largest fleet of wave measurement devices specific to marine energy in the entire world," he said. In a recent report from the University of Victoria-led group, Robertson explained that distant storms across the Pacific Ocean whip water up into an endless supply of energy-packed waves bound for the British Columbia shoreline. By the time those waves arrive at the west coast they're so powerful that wave-energy converters in British Columbia waters could generate from them as much as 324 terawatt hours annually. That's six times the province's energy requirements, the authors found. The report also described a few dif- ferent types of wave-energy converters. Anchored buoys rely on floats and the up- and-down motion of swells to drive their hydraulic cylinders, and wormlike chains of floats use motion at their hinges to gen- erate electricity. Wall-like flaps lean back and forth in the waves and drive hydraulic rams at their bases on the sea floor. And, elevated reservoirs catch and convert surg- ing water with help from gravity. The converters are massive and just one of them, anchored in the right place, could produce enough energy to power more than 50 homes, according to the report, which used a prime location off Ucluelet, a district municipality on the Ucluelet Peninsula on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, as a case study. Robertson notes that jurisdictional questions for such offshore projects are a challenge, as well as bringing down the production cost. Electricity generated from waves is now estimated to run between $390 and $1,450 per megawatt hour. That's roughly four to 14 times British Columbia's residential consumer rate, according to the report. The wide range was attributed to varied construction and operating costs, and uncertainty around permitting and power output. When asked whether he saw wave power as a viable electricity source, Developments in Green Technology by Jane Bratun GREEN TECHNOLOGIES Dr. Bryson Robertson, (in blue jacket) and the boatman launch a WatchMate and TriAXYS wave-measurement buoy near Ucluelet, o the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Photo courtesy West Coast Wave Initiative.

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