The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, has issued a three-year preliminary permit giving California Wave Energy Partners rights to study wave energy in waters north of Cape Mendocino.
The project, which was granted its permit on June 27, is the local entry of Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), one of the best-known players in the worldwide wave energy field. New Jersey-based OPT is considered a hot stock by many green technology investors and has made headlines over the rise and fall of its stock this year.
The Centerville OPT Wave Energy Park would be located entirely off Humboldt County, north of the Mendocino County line.
The OPT application would fall in between two permit areas granted to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, located off Fort Bragg and Eureka, but would touch neither.
PG&E gained intervener status in the application, saying it hopes to work with OPT on where the power line would come ashore and where it would hook into the grid. The utility also hopes to buy the power, the PG&E filing states.
There still has been no FERC action on the GreenWave permit off the town of Mendocino, filed before the Nov. 7 Centerville OPT application, which FERC approved for comments in January. GreenWave was told by FERC in January it needed to correct deficiencies before the application could be accepted.
Ocean Power Technologies gave FERC far more specifics than did PG&E. All along, the utility giant has taken the stance that everything is preliminary and no specifics are available.
The OPT application describes the use of 40 to 80 wave energy devices, each generating 250 to 500 kilowatts. They would be arrayed in up to six rows parallel to the beach. “Each row will consist of approximately 7 to 40 Wave Energy Converters (WECs). The lateral spacing of the WECs is approximately 100 meters and the row spacing is approximately 200 meters,” the application says.
PG&E”s lack of any such specifics created controversy in Fort Bragg. The utility had initially planned to test devices from up to three different manufacturers in the water, with as much as 5 megawatts being produced in the test period, followed by installation of a 40 megawatt power plant (if successful).
The plan now is not to do any in-water equipment tests in the first three years and PG&E has not released further details about how the wave array might look
FERC, too, is slowing down.
FERC has responded to criticisms by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and two federal agencies by firmly stating that a preliminary permit does not grant any “land disturbing” rights. FERC granted preliminary permits to many applicants across the country who stated they planned to do tests in waters ranging from the Yukon River to the Gulf Stream off Florida with many rivers in between.
FERC had originally said they expected testing, but didn”t authorize anything that violated any local, state or federal laws. FERC said the only criterion was that test equipment in the water not actually hook up to the power grid.
But now FERC is saying preliminary permits are not intended to get test devices into the water — a dramatic change.
In a response to criticism, FERC said, “The majority of the comments filed are related to the construction of the project or are related to the fact that more information is necessary in order to appropriately address the potential impacts the project might have on fish and wildlife resources. As noted, a preliminary permit does not authorize a permittee to undertake any construction.”
In addition to PG&E, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the California Department of Fish and Game filed motions to intervene in the OPT Centerville project. Comments were filed by the U.S. Coast Guard, the County of Humboldt Board of Supervisors, and the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors says more information about impacts to local commercial and recreational fisheries is needed. “Over 100 commercial Dungeness crab vessels operate out of Humboldt Bay, and some of the most productive fishing is within the proposed project boundary, ” county supervisors told FERC.
“Therefore, the County recommends slowing down, assessing the impacts, and adequately communicating with the commercial and recreational fishing communities,” the FERC permit states. Comments filed by the Department of Interior state that not enough information exists about how the proposed project will assess environmental impacts. Possibly impacted endangered species include the California brown pelican, marbled murrelet, and the short-tailed albatross.
“The purpose of a preliminary permit is to preserve the right of the permit holder to have the first priority in applying for a license for the project that is being studied,” FERC answered.
According to the OPT application, “The proposed project would utilize the affected waters in the public interest by bringing a new source of renewable, non-polluting energy to the U.S. The proposed project will use ocean waves to generate energy in a dependable and environmentally sound way.
“This natural source of energy is also sustainable as opposed to the limited sources of other energy resources such as oil, gas and coal. The potential of wave energy is also an important source of alternative renewable nonpolluting energy or green power”.”
