Canadian firm constructs wave turbine for U.S. state

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, September 5, 2007. A wave energy converter has been constructed in three months, for installation off the coast of Oregon.

Finavera Renewables says the AquaBuOY 2.0 wave converter will be transported to Newport, Oregon, where it will be deployed 3 km into the ocean for testing during September. Once deployed, the output of the hose pump technology will be monitored to determine its potential for generation of electricity.

All onboard diagnostic equipment will be powered by the device itself, with solar panels and small wind turbines installed on the device to provide secondary power. Information will be streamed via wireless and satellite technology to gather and analyse the data.

“Construction of the AquaBuOY 2.0 illustrates our ability to manage a complicated design program for a unique new technology,” says Jason Bak of Finavera Renewables. “Our next step is to deploy the device and validate our cost and output projections.”

“That testing will lead to the development of our next generation wave energy converter, as our goal is to optimise our technology for cost effective electricity generation from the energy in the ocean,” he adds. “The completion of construction and imminent deployment bring us closer to that goal.”

Finavera Renewables is developing the patented AquaBuOY wave technology for projects in the U.S., Portugal and South Africa. It recently received an investigative permit for a wave energy project in Ucluelet, British Columbia. The two-year permit grants the right to conduct resource and environmental studies to determine the feasibility of a wave energy project, and would become the first offshore wave energy project in Canada.

The Canadian company is planning the installation of a multi-device array in 2010, to be followed by deployment of more devices on the “first linear steps of what we anticipate will be an exponential curve.” The wave converter was made at Oregon Iron Works in Portland, and is a floating buoy structure which converts the kinetic energy of the vertical motion of oncoming waves into electricity, by converting the vertical component of wave kinetic energy into pressurised seawater by means of two-stroke hose pumps. Pressurised seawater is directed into a conversion system consisting of a turbine driving an electrical generator, and the power will be transmitted to shore by means of an undersea transmission line.

“Today is an exciting day as it marks the transition from construction to deployment,” says Denis Letourneau of Finavera Renewables. “Over the last two and a half months, our engineers and fabricators have put in long hours to ensure this cutting edge technology was built to exacting specifications. We have completed various systems tests on the device, and the AquaBuOY 2.0 wave energy converter is now ready for ocean testing.”

Finavera Renewables is also developing windfarm projects in Canada and Ireland. In Canada, a two stage 150 MW project is being developed in Alberta, with construction to begin in 2008. In British Columbia, four projects totaling 366 MW have been entered into the provincial Environmental Assessment process, and several other sites are being developed. In Ireland, two pre-construction wind projects are under development with a potential capacity of 175 MW. Data collection and environmental studies have been continuing at a number of sites in both countries.

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