First Wave-Generated Power Facility Set for 2004 Opening
Officials of Seattle-based AquaEnergy Group Ltd., an alternative energy company, say the 1-MW system is slated to produce power by mid-2004 from a site 3.2 miles off Makah Bay in Northwest Washington. It would be the world's first full-scale, installed commercial system. Such a system would power about 150 houses year-round in the mild climate of the Pacific Northwest.
The AquaEnergy system is not tidal, but wave-driven. An initial pilot installation will consist of four buoys, whose up-and-down motion caused by waves of up to 50 ft will create water pressure of roughly 200 psi to drive underwater pistons, which in turn will operate a turbine that feeds a generator. The offshore system has a working end that extends about 60 ft beneath the surface and will be connected by cable running along the ocean floor to a power-conditioning station on shore at Hobuck Beach.