An alternative energy subsidiary of oil giant Chevron is proposing a wave energy plant off the town of Mendocino that could complement — or compete with — the proposed PG&E wave energy plant off Fort Bragg.
On July 2, Chevron California Renewable Energy, Inc. filed a preliminary permit application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The filing represents a commitment and a claim, similar to staking a mining claim.
Mendocino would be dead center in the claim area, although wave energy plants are not normally visible from shore. It would avoid the Van Damme State Marine Area. The large study area is framed in order to locate a smaller project area. That larger area is a rectangle that runs from three miles offshore to less than a mile from shore, from Point Cabrillo to a spot halfway between the mouth of Little River and Albion.
Like PG&E, Chevron plans to evaluate alternative designs and locations of wave energy conversion devices.
“These devices would be combined in arrays for demonstration scale or commercial scale power production,” Chevron said in a July 5 letter to local government agencies.
Chevron”s proposal is nearly identical to PG&E”s, including a competition among manufacturers and technologies, which could make the Mendocino Coast the world”s leading spot for wave energy research — at least as the world stands now. Wave energy plants proposed all over the world generally come with a single technology.
Wave energy technology is moving from the idea stage to the practical at breakneck speed.
However, Chevron has picked a company and a technology to start with — The Pelamis — which resembles a chain of bobbing giant redwood trees or wriggling giant sea serpents.
Waves jostle the links between Pelamis sections, pushing hydraulic rams to provide the energy.
Chevron estimates the power range from a tiny 2 megawatts to 60 megawatts, about twice as much as needed to power the entire coast. The PG&E plan hopes for 40 megawatts.
Global giant Chevron, like California utility PG&E, is making substantial investments in alternative energy. Although the Chevron company has California in its name, all the mailing addresses are in Houston, Texas.
The filing makes no reference to the PG&E proposal, so it is unclear how they would work together or possibly compete. PG&E”s Fort Bragg Federal Energy Regulatory Commission preliminary permit application represents a federal claim to an area 17 miles north to south by 4 miles wide, starting about one half mile off the Mendocino Coast and extending 6 miles offshore
Chevron would connect the power via undersea cable to an unnamed PG&E substation. A letter was mailed to local agencies on July 5 and the newspaper obtained the filing too close to presstime for comments. Chevron promises public meetings and extensive public process.
