Motion of the ocean

Hawaii has the world’s most famous surf, and someday those ocean swells might power your home.

Wave power is the alternative energy source in Hawaii that is the least developed but has the most potential, according to a recent federal study.

While other states might have a higher total wave energy resource because of their longer coastlines, Hawaii offers advantages because of its position in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no continental shelf to slow down waves headed for its shores.

"Hawaii has very energetic resources in a small area," said Mike Reed, water power team leader and chief engineer with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind and Water Program. "It’s intensity is right up there."

And the fact that waves hit Hawaii from all directions means its waters are suitable for a greater range of wave energy technologies, such as buoy devices that bob up and down to generate electricity, he said.

But don’t expect to see waves providing your electric needs any time soon.

"Wave power right now is similar to where wind was 10 to 20 years ago in terms of the level of development," said Hoyt Battey, in charge of market acceleration and deployment for DOE’s Wind and Water Program. "There is a ton of work going on in the industry, but so far they haven’t come up with a single device design like wind has."

The DOE is trying to leverage the knowledge gained in the development of wind power to help wave energy companies close the gap between the R&D phase and commercialization, Battey added. "We already have some small-scale projects, and in the next five to 10 years we’re hoping for the start of larger commercial development," he said.

Toward that end the Navy, University of Hawaii and U.S. Department of Energy have joined forces on a project they hope will speed up the effort to commercialize wave power.

The partners are pushing ahead with plans to create a "Wave Energy Test Site" offshore from Marine Corps Base Hawaii that will create the necessary infrastructure for wave energy developers to plug in their devices and test them in real conditions.

The project builds on the success of a recently completed test of a wave energy buoy anchored off the base that marked the first time in the U.S. a wave power device successfully fed power into an electrical grid. The Wave Energy Test Site, or WETS, will provide anchoring systems and undersea power cables to accommodate up to three wave energy devices three-quarters of a mile or more off MCBH. Naval Facilities Engineering Command is conducting an environmental assessment for the project, which has a target completion date of 2014.

Another wave energy project in the works features an Australian-based company called Oceanlinx which is negotiating with Maui Electric Co. to produce power for the utility from a wave energy generator it plans to position off the north coast of Maui.

A recent federally funded report from the Electric Power Research Institute concluded that the waters around Hawaii are one of the most resource-rich areas in the U.S. for wave energy, with the capability of producing up to 80 terawatt-hours of "recoverable" electricity a year. Statewide consumption of electricity last year totaled about 10 terawatt-hours.

The most successful wave energy project in Hawaii to date was done by Ocean Power Technologies, a New Jersey-based company that began testing power-generating buoys off MCBH in 2004. By late 2009 OPT had deployed the third generation of its "power buoy" off the Kaneohe coast, a 40-kilowatt machine which in September 2010 became the first wave energy device in the U.S. to be connected to an electrical grid. It delivered a nominal amount of electricity to MCBH for about a year until OPT concluded the experimental project last fall.

OPT is taking the knowledge it gained from the project to develop what would be the country’s first utility-scale wave energy project off the coast of Oregon, said Robert Lurie, the company’s vice president for business development and marketing in North America. "We’d very much like to do commercial projects in Hawaii one day," he said.

That project, near Reedsport, Ore., will feature 10 buoys of 150 kilowatts each for a total generating capacity of 1.5 megawatts. The actual output of electricity will be somewhat less because wave energy, like wind and solar, is not a firm source of power. A calm day on the ocean can have the same negative impact on the output of a wave energy device as cloud cover has on a solar panel or a still day has on a wind turbine.

OPT’s work in Hawaii was invaluable in terms of the information it produced for the nascent wave power industry, said Luis Vega, manager of the Hawaii National Marine Renewable Energy Center at the University of Hawaii. The center is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

"They were able to produce a design that works. It prepared them for the commercial project in Reedsport," he said.

The center did a bathymetric survey showing depths and sea floor conditions where the WETS project will be located. The site is about 3 square miles in area with depths ranging from 100 to 230 feet.

The project will have berths for three wave energy devices with generating capacities of up to 500 kilowatts each, he said.

The Marine Corps’ role in the WETS project fits with the Navy’s goal of generating 50 percent of its energy requirements with renewable sources by 2020, said Maj. Alan Crouch, an MCBH spokes­man.

"All of this is to help Navy and Marine Corps find suitable sources of renewable energy. We want to get there by 2020, so we don’t have a lot of time," Crouch said. "Marine Corps Base Hawaii is happy to partner with NAVFAC (Naval Facilities Engineering Command) in order to test the viability of different forms of wave energy technology."

State Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R, Kailua-Kaneohe) said she believes the Abercrombie administration should make wave energy a top priority in its renewable energy policy. By placing wave energy devices close to each island, the state could obviate the need for a proposed interisland electricity transmission cable, she said.

"They talk about spending billions for an interisland cable, and the decision makers haven’t looked in their own backyard."