Five years ago, Pacific Gas and Electric Company came to Fort Bragg to sell wave energy as the key to the future of alternative energy as well as a potential local economic boost. PG&E has now withdrawn its last application and canceled its last preliminary permit after acquiring millions in grant money from the California Public Utilities Commission.
“Due to numerous challenges associated with WaveConnect development, PG&E regrets that it is filing a petition to surrender the Central Coast WaveConnect preliminary permit,” the utility wrote on April 29 to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
After PG&E canceled similar proposals off Fort Bragg, Eureka and San Luis Obispo, the California Public Utilities Commission on May 10, 2010 issued a preliminary permit for another WaveConnect project, off Santa Barbara.
PG&E has not detailed the reasons why the efforts have failed. During extensive public meetings in Fort Bragg, it became clear that the technology was decades from being practical, but had tremendous potential. Locals complained about a process that lacked environmental and fishing protections and which gave no role to local authorities in waters off their shores.
Chevron Corporation and GreenWave LLC both proposed wave energy stations off the town of Mendocino, with the oil giant pulling its permit and GreenWave having its rejected by FERC.
Three proposals off Humboldt County have also been dropped.
Ironically, the most active wave energy developer in California is now the Sonoma County Water Agency, which has three separate proposals before FERC to study and develop the ocean. Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt county supervisors all became outraged and involved after the FERC private giveaway. Sonoma County filed for a FERC permit for all its waters in order to have a say in any projects given the nod by FERC. FERC replied that Sonoma County couldn”t act to protect its waters; it must study with intent to develop and rejected the blanket permit.
Now, Sonoma County, through its often controversial water district, has three permits on file, which look like the most specific proposals filed to date in California.
While state wave energy projects have been vanishing, wave energy talk, if not actual development, is on the rise in Oregon.
New Jersey-based Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) recently announced four new contracts with Oregon businesses to help deploy its first PowerBuoy wave energy-generating device off the Oregon coast near Reedsport. OPT was once involved in the GreenWave project and also had an effort to study wave energy off Cape Mendocino, yet another now defunct local project. OPT is hoping efforts in Oregon and Scotland can put it atop the field in 2011.
Oregon State University officials also announced a site near Newport, on the Oregon coast, has been selected for a new wave energy test program, according to Associated Press reports.
The final decision on the site was made by officials from the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, which is a joint research effort of Oregon State University and the University of Washington.
The site selection follows two years of discussions with the Oregon coastal community, fishermen, state agencies, wave energy developers and scientists. It is within Oregon territorial waters, near the Hatfield Marine Science Center, and close to roads and marine support services, AP reported
The site will not only allow testing of new wave energy technologies, but will also be used to help study any potential environmental impacts on sediments and marine animals.
Email Frank Hartzell at frankhartzell@gmail.com.
