A Southern California company has stepped into the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filing area abandoned by Chevron, off the town of Mendocino.
The filing by GreenWave Energy Solutions happened shortly after Chevron withdrew, but oddly was never posted on the federal Website among all the other applications with pending preliminary permit applications.
Most Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filings are posted within hours, but more than two months after the federal filing, the GreenWave filing, made on Oct. 23, was still not available on the list of commission projects with preliminary permits filed. GreenWave also filed on the same day an application for a wave energy plant off San Luis Obispo.
The newspaper had heard about the application in the rumor mill and was finally able to confirm the filing Wednesday morning, after weeks of non-response from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and others said to be involved.
The Chevron application, filed in July, was also not available on the commission”s Website until well after the newspaper broke that story.
A search of the terms GreenWave and Mendocino also failed to bring up the GreenWave Mendocino Wave Park Project, but the docket number was provided by the commission Wednesday morning. The Pacific Gas & Electric application off Fort Bragg has been the only application on which information was readily available.
The application reveals the GreenWave project site starts a half-mile from shore off the town of Mendocino and would be 2.5 miles wide (predominantly in the east-west direction) by 6.9 miles long. (roughly the same area as the Chevron application).
The application contains much boilerplate material, similar to that used in the other local applications, but suggests a bigger powerplant than the 40 megawatt envisioned by PG&E.
“The proposed site has the potential of producing 100 megawatts of electrical power, depending on the technology selected and spacing required, as well as physical, environmental, and regulatory constraints determined during the feasibility studies,” the filing states.
GreenWave lists a suite on East Thousand Oaks Boulevard as its offices, with Wayne L. Burkamp as president. GreenWave has no obvious Web presence and has issued no press releases about the proposal, but the filing mentions another firm to be involved.
“GreenWave estimates that during the preliminary permit period, studies, investigations, tests, surveys, maps, plans, and other related specifications for the proposed project will cost approximately between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 and will be funded by Cn”eenWave Energy Solutions, LLC,” the filing states.
The filing acts as a claim to the waters off Mendocino, in the same way as a mining claim, preventing others from making filings for three years.
