The first grid-connected wave power project in the US has cleared a key regulatory hurdle.
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is granting a 35-year license to Ocean Power Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OPTT) for a 1.5 megawatt (MW) grid-connected wave power station off the Oregon coast.
This is FERC’s first license for grid-connected wave energy, although a tidal energy project off the coast of Maine is already under way.
The station at Reedsport, Oregon, will include 10 of the company’s PowerBuoy wave energy devices, enough to power about 1,000 homes. Construction on the first buoy is almost complete, and it should be ready for installation in late 2012, says Ocean Power Technologies (OPT).
“The issuance of this license by FERC is an important milestone for the U.S. wave energy industry as well as for OPT," says Charles Dunleavy, CEO of OPT. "It represents the culmination of thorough due diligence and consideration of input from a broad array of groups interested in our Reedsport project. The 35-year term of the license demonstrates the commercial potential of wave power, and this will support initiatives to secure financing for the project. "
OPT is funding the first system with money from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and PNGC Power, an Oregon-based electric power cooperative.
An August 2010 settlement between Ocean Power, 11 federal and state agencies and three non-government stakeholders cleared the way for this latest approval. That settlement considered a broad array of issues such as the impact on aquatic resources, water quality, recreation and public safety, and the information in that agreement was considered for the FERC approval.
After the initial PowerBuoy is deployed in Oregon, the construction of the remaining nine units along with the infrastructure to connect them to the grid will be subject to additional funding and other regulatory approvals, says OPT.
The company signed an even bigger wave-energy deal in early July for a 19 MW project in Victoria, Australia, a joint project with Lockheed Marting that will use a grant from the Commonwealth of Australia.
OPT’s PowerBuoy comes in different configurations. Most of the unit is submerged underwater, so that it has a low profile, and it designed to have minimal environmental impact. For example, the PB150 is 135 feet in length, and has a maximum diameter of 36 feet near the ocean surface. It is rated at 150 kilowatts (kW), but the unit performed better than that in tests off the northeast coast of Scotland.
OPT is headquartered in Pennington, New Jersey, with offices in Warwick, UK, and operations in Melbourne and Perth, Australia.
This is the latest major development this summer for ocean-related power projects in the US.
In July, Maine became the first state to commercialize ocean energy when the state’s regulators directed three utilities to buy 4MW of tidal electricity from Ocean Renewable Power Company.
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