Navy helps 3 firms get set to pull power from the sea

Interest in Hawaii as a test bed for wave energy technology is swelling as companies flock to Kane­ohe Bay to prove the durability of their power-generating devices in the Pacific.

The Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center will oversee wave energy companies that will test technology at the Navy’s Water Energy Test Site offshore of Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Wave energy conversion technology, which is still in its infancy, converts the energy of changing waves, tides or ocean currents into electricity.

The U.S. Department of Energy and the project managers are looking to speed up commercialization of this renewable energy source through these tests.

Columbia Power Technologies LLC, Ocean Energy USA LLC and Northwest Energy Innovations LLC are three companies that make up the fleet of wave energy firms testing their devices in Kane­ohe Bay.

"Hawaii has a good wave regime. This is one step along the path where developers would like to test with the end goal being commercialization on their part," said Alexandra DeVisser, project engineer for the Wave Energy Test Site project.

Three ports at the test site are divided into two categories: the shallow port at 100 feet below sea level and deeper ports below 200 feet.

The Energy Department is providing a total of $10 million for the wave projects conducted by Ocean Energy USA and Northwest Energy Innovations.

The aim is to help push the technology to the level of producing power for the electrical grid, the Energy Department said.

"The data gathered by these large-scale, open-water demonstrations will identify key cost drivers which will accelerate the commercialization of these technologies as well as (wave energy conversion) technologies in general," the Energy Department said.

Producing energy both for commercial and residential use is an ultimate goal, according to the Energy Department.

The testing effort supports developers of wave energy conversion technology that are in the advanced stages of developing their technology, the Energy Department said.

Northwest Energy Innovations of Portland, Ore., will build and test a full-scale model of its Azura wave energy conversion device. The Navy will test it at 200 feet below sea level.

Ocean Energy USA of Sacramento, Calif., will provide its Buoy device for testing at 260 feet below sea level. The buoy uses an oscillating water column that converts wave energy by harnessing the energy from air that is compressed by the rise and fall of ocean waves, and converting it to electricity.

Neither company has announced when it will begin testing.

The Navy has provided $3 million to Columbia Power Technologies to test its wave energy conversion technology, StingRAY, in Kane­ohe Bay for at least 12 months starting in the second half of 2016.

The StingRAY employs "point absorber" wave energy technology. It uses floats and a rolling centerpiece called a nacelle to collectively capture wave energy. The devices move independently of each other as they are affected by the waves, capturing the mechanical energy. The rotary blades on the StingRAY capture the mechanical energy created by the floating parts and convert that energy into electricity.

The Navy’s existing infrastructure was appealing to Reenst Lese­mann, chief executive officer of Columbia Power Technologies.

"It’s a logical place to test when trying to test one of these devices at full scale," Lese­mann said. "If you don’t have access to that pre-installed infrastructure, it makes it very, very expensive and very difficult and takes a very long time."

Hawaii’s location and dependence on fossil fuels also attracted Lese­mann.

"It would be great to stop using diesel and use more and more renewables," Lese­mann said. "If we continue to move away from diesel, that would be great. We get to prove things not only to the Navy, but also to the citizens of Hawaii that this is good way to go."

Through the research, the Navy and the companies hope to prove that the connected devices are durable in the open ocean environment, while measuring power output at full scale and evaluating the cost of energy produced by the devices.

"We are proving we have the right starting point and the right path," Lese­mann said. "We’ve combined a lot of common things in an uncommon way. We want to prove once and for all that our approach works."

Columbia Power is deploying a 650-kilowatt capacity system. Running at full capacity all the time, it would provide power for more than 600 houses, Lese­mann said.

The Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at the University of Hawaii-Manoa will conduct additional underwater surveys of the devices, said Patrick Cross, project manager of support for the institute.

"We’ll be tasked with independently monitoring the devices," Cross said. "Listening to sound intrusion to native species like monk seals and humpback whales. We’ll be doing ecological surveys looking at how the ecosystems evolve and whether there is an impact from energy devices in the water."

Although these companies are funded for testing only in Hawaii, the wave commercial sector already recognizes the state as a potential place to actually deploy technologies, said Cross, adding that interest in Hawaii will only expand.

"People will over time in the wave energy business be more and more aware of the testing we are doing in Hawaii and plant seeds in companies’ minds," Cross said. "What is unique about this site is it is the first grid connected in the United States."

The prototypes will be connected to a power grid with the power produced during the test used by the Navy on the Marine base.

"As the nation’s only grid-connected, open-water test site, the testing at the Navy’s test site offshore of Marine Corps Base is a critical step structured to gather performance data and identify key cost drivers that will accelerate the commercialization and deployment of (wave energy) technologies," the Energy Department said.

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