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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (932)	7/11/2005 1:27:04 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24225

Ocean Power taps alternate energy source Piper Lowell Special to the Business Journal PENNINGTON, N.J. -- Oceans have enticed scientists for years with the energy of their heat, waves, winds and tides. But ocean energy has been as hard to harness as it is plentiful. Maneuvering in the ocean is tough. The water is corrosive. Marine life settles around new objects, often killing animals, breaking machines or both. But a company here that edged into profitability last year is joining the nascent industry of power stations fueled by waves. It is part of a quickly changing renewable energy landscape where ocean power is taking a hold. "We're small, but we want to grow the company into a large company because we have something the world needs," Ocean Power Technologies Inc. CEO and co-founder George W. Taylor said. OPT doubled its workforce last year -- now 30 people -- hiring more scientists and engineers. It is continuing its research projects with the Navy and New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. And energy companies Iberdrola SA of Spain and Total Energie Developpement SAS of France announced OPT contracts this year for commercial power plants in the Bay of Biscay. Coated with protective paint and armor-plated (important because sharks chew underwater cables like dental floss), OPT's power buoys bob just under the surface a mile or two offshore. Each bob pushes a piston that sends power through a cable to a generator on the ocean floor. That cable then runs to an onshore power plant. Wave energy now costs 7 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. Taylor hopes to get that down to 3 to 4 cents within five years. People have long used ocean power for small projects. For example, English millers in medieval times used power from the tides to grind wheat. During the 1970s energy crisis, the federal government invested heavily in wave energy and ways to collect heat from the ocean's surface and convert that to power, the Department of Energy's Andrew R. Trenka said. There were significant gains in technology from 1977 to 1983, especially in materials, said Trenka, who works with the department's ocean and solar energy programs. After that, gains were limited and successes rare. » Continued Page: 1 \| 2 \| 3 bizjournals.com