Israeli, British researchers devise novel system to predict wave power

A team of Israeli and British researchers have discovered that energy generated from the oceans can improve twofold through innovative methods that can predict wave power. The researchers from Tel Aviv University in Israel and the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom targeted point absorbers or floating devices with components that move relative to each other in response to wave action.

Read more...

Scotland announces new funding for marine renewables

Scotland announced a new round of funding of £7.9 million ($12.5 million) for the development and testing of new wave and tidal prototypes around the country’s seas. The funding is the second round of the Wave and Tidal Energy: Research, Development & Demonstration Support fund – called the Waters Fund – which enables Scottish developers and supply chain firms to increase their chances toward the international marine energy market.

Read more...

Scotland to deploy world’s first community-owned tidal turbine

A first-of-its-kind community-owned tidal turbine is expected to be deployed on the coast of Scotland by 2013, said Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond. Scottish firms Steel Engineering and Nova Innovation will deliver the 30-kilowatt hydroelectric generator, the Nova-30, which will be installed in the Bluemull Sound between the islands of Yell and Unst.

Read more...

Australia riding the waves of clean energy

While solar, wind and hydro are among the popular and commonly-used renewable sources, ocean power is an emerging technology that could offer another means of clean energy. A report from Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, says ocean energy from waves, currents and tides could provide as much as 10 percent electricity for Australia by 2050.

Read more...

Novel ocean energy concept to be piloted in Okinawa

Japanese engineering companies IHI Plant Construction Corporation, Xenesys Incorporated and Yokogawa Electric Corporation will work together to build a pilot ocean thermal energy conversion plant in Okinawa Prefecture. With an OTEC system, the temperature differences between warm surface seawater and cold deep seawater are used to generate power.

Read more...

Ocean Power records decrease in technology development expenses

Ocean Power Technologies finished the fiscal year ended April 30, 2012 with a net loss of $15.2 million compared with $20.5 million in the year prior. Despite the fact the wave energy company has yet to report gains, chief executive Charles F. Dunleavy remains optimistic, pointing out that it is an improvement over the previous year and a reflection of the company’s successful effort to decrease product development costs.

Read more...

Ocean Power, Lockheed Martin working on 19-MW wave project in Australia

Two American companies, Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. and Lockheed Martin, will be developing a 19-megawatt wave energy project in Portland, in the state of Victoria, Australia. The Portland project is one of the largest wave energy projects announced to date, leveraging a federal grant of 66.46 million Australian dollars ($68 million) from the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism.

Read more...

Eco Wave Power’s wave power devices complete tests in Black Sea

The medium-scale wave energy power device in the Black Sea developed by Israeli firm Eco Wave Power which was completed in April this year is now in full operation. Following the installation of the power plant, the company did some tests. They examined the characteristics of the two different floater shapes used – the “Wave Clapper” and “Power Wing” – and stress-tested the floaters under stormy conditions.

Read more...

U.S.’s own grid-connected marine energy testing site planned

Wave energy nonprofit Oregon Wave and the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center have begun negotiations with the European Marine Energy Centre to plan a grid-connected ocean energy test facility to be called the Pacific Marine Energy Center. The project, which makes it a United States version of the key European facility for marine energy development, addresses the absence of standardized testing facilities which has been identified as a key barrier to the development of the marine energy industry.

Read more...

Britain offering $32 million for wave and tidal array devices deo

Organizations working with wave or tidal stream power technology have until the end of June 2012 to bid for a share of the British government’s 20 million pound ($32 million) Marine Energy Array Demonstrator Scheme. MEAD will support up to two pre-commercial projects to demonstrate the operation of wave and tidal devices in an array formation for an extended period of time.

Read more...