More on Wave Energy
In response to my recent post Wave Energy Isn’t Going To Make It, a commenter writes: Wave energy may not be completely finished. Such technologies may not be economic in today’s economic dynamics, but who knows what the future may hold for such ideas? It’s possible that a breakthrough in a seemingly unrelated technology may make another previously uneconomic technology suddenly feasible.
That’s not impossible, but here’s why I’m bearish.
Obviously, the effectiveness of all clean energy technologies are based on a) the first law of thermodynamics (you’re not going to get more energy out of something than that which is resident in it) and b) the cost of extracting it and getting it to where it can be used.
In solar, this means converting the kinetic energy of incident photons into the dislodging of electrons in a substrate. Until now, the efficiency of this process has been limited by the fact that some photons don’t have enough energy to make this happen, so their energy is wasted, while others have more than enough energy, the rest of which is wasted.
Soon, however, solar will experience a quantum leap forward (literally); technology is being developed such that a photon’s energy will be capable of dislodging more than one electron, due to something called the Mössbauer effect, i.e., a photon’s energy can be absorbed into a matrix of particles, rather than just a single particle. At this point, the efficiency of solar will almost double, from the mid-20s to the mid-40s. Such potential advantages do not exist for the other flavors of renewables that function on the “macro” level: transferring energy from currents of air or water, waves, heat, or chemical bonds.
Craig,
Okay, we get you are a fan of solar power and so are most people,but Solar does have limitations.
Anyone who has been to sea, or even to a beach, can easily understand the immense power of the oceans, both tidal and wave. it’s not the lack of power that’s the problem but how to harness that power.
Way back in 1974 Dr Stephen Salter nodding, or Edinburgh duck, experiment established a curved cam-like devise by stopping 92% of wave motion can convert over 90% of to electricity with an 81% efficiency ratio.
Several wave farms are currently operational around the world, and although the technology is still very crude, at least three have advanced to become commercially viable as generators. The facilities can also produce fresh water.
CETO installations may not be a complete solution to renewable energy, but could prove increasingly viable for specialist applications.
Such a valuable technology shouldn’t be casually dismissed and research is worth pursuing.
Marcopolo,
The real issue is the longevity of the system. You have a widespread mechanical installation involving moving parts installed at the ocean floor. The installation cost is going to be quite high per kW… so the system is going to have to have an extremely long longevity in order to have a low levelized cost.
Craig is simply asserting that he believes solar and wind will have such a low cost that they will choke off investment into wave energy, and that will be a dead end.
I think he’s right, because the uncertainty surrounding the longevity of wave power systems makes for a very risky investment. If wind and solar are essentially no-risk investments, then there will be no appetite for further development of wave power.