Marine energy Portugal project

Ocean Power Delivery of Scotland has tested a much larger device in the Orkney Islands. Its 380-foot-long "sea snake" contains seven cylinders linked by hinges that undulate with the waves' motions, tripping hydraulic pumps that turn motors. It plans to install three machines, at about $13.5 million, this summer near northern Portugal, and eventually an array of 30 to light 15,000 Portuguese homes. PG&E plans to consider the device for California.

Unlike wind power, which must be zapped from states such as Wyoming and Kansas to larger cities, clogging transmission lines and losing energy along the way, marine energy farms can be near coastal population centers.

"Because of its location, it will be relatively easy to integrate into our system," says Kevin Watkins, vice president of the Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative, which has agreed to buy power from Ocean Power Technologies.

Europe is further ahead than the USA. It's testing a variety of prototypes, including a "wave dragon" that scoops water into a basin, then releases it to turn turbines. Even big players are jumping in. General Electric has taken a small stake in Ocean Power Delivery.
"We've done our due diligence, and we think this has promise," says Kevin Walsh, who heads renewable energy for GE Energy Financial Services.

Yet, marine energy also faces choppy waters. Projects cost about 13 cents to 35 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity, at least twice the cost of wind. Mass production, Bedard says, eventually should drive down costs below wind.

"It's about where wind was 25 years ago," Bedard says, adding that water turbines will develop more quickly, having borrowed from the advances of windmills.

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