Wave energy developer Carnegie Wave Energy Limited welcomes the release of an independent report from the United States Department of Energy (DoE) estimating the total available ocean wave energy resource at 2,640 TWh/yr.
The report, “Mapping and Assessment of the United States Ocean Wave Energy Resource”, was undertaken by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and estimated the total available wave energy resource along the U.S. continental shelf edge.
The U.S. uses about 4,000 TWh of electricity per year, about 6% of which is generated by hydropower resources. The report estimates that the total recoverable wave energy resource is some 1,170 TWh/yr or approximately one-third of the nation’s annual electricity usage. DoE further estimates that water power, including conventional hydropower and wave, tidal, and other water power resources, can potentially provide 15% of our nation’s electricity by 2030, representing a clear market opportunity.
North American Opportunity
The Canadian wave energy resource is estimated at approximately 1,610 TWh/yr (183,500 MW). Combined with the U.S. resource, the total available North American wave energy resource this represents approximately 4,250 TWh/yr.
Carnegie’s North American project, the Ucluelet Wave Energy Project, seeks to take advantage of this vast, and as yet, untapped resource and demonstrate the potential of Carnegie’s CETO wave technology in this key future wave energy market. As such Carnegie, through its British Columbia based subsidiary Pacific Coastal Wave Energy Corporation, has applied for funding consideration under the Canadian Government’s ecoENERGY Innovation Initiative (ecoEII) and a final decision on Government grant funding is expected in Quarter 1, 2012.
EPRI used a 51-month Wavewatch III hindcast database, developed especially for this study by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Centers for Environmental Prediction. The total available U.S. wave energy resource estimate of 2,640 TWh/yr has been updated and increased from the previous preliminary estimate of 2,100 TWh/yr released by EPRI in 2004.
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Offshore WIND staff, January 30, 2012; Image: carnegiewave