Taylor, Oregon to Provide Wave Power - 12/27/06

Taylor’s buoy will be installed off the Oregon coast in 2007.  The buoy is 50 feet long nine feet of which is above the water’s surface.  A piston in the buoy moves up and down as waves pass.  The kinetic energy created is converted into electricity by a generator in the top of the buoy.  Cables carry the electricity back to shore.

The Oregon coastline is a perfect location for the Taylor buoy because waves traveling thousands of miles across the Pacific have few obstructions to weaken them.  The buoys will be placed one mile off shore and can be linked together in a field of a dozen or more.  Environmentalists love the device which does not emit gases and has not impact on marine life.

Taylor and his partner Joseph Burns who died in 2001 initially considered wind power but found problems with wind power generating electricity commercially because wind is unpredictable.  They found wave power more predictable and abundant. 

Because of little interest in the U.S. for alternative energy investment Taylor had to take the company public on the London Stock Exchange where there was more interest in wave power technology.  Their first prototype was launched off of New Jersey in 1997.  The unit could generate up to one kilowatt.  In 2005 Ocean Power launched a buoy that can generate up to 40 kilowatts off the Hawaiian coast for the U.S. Navy.  Five more buoys are planed to be installed in a field that could generate up to one megawatt of electricity enough to power 1000 homes. 

Taylor’s company Ocean Power Technologies has made more advances in waver power technology more than any other competitor.  Taylor has working prototypes generating power in several countries.  Taylor’s buoys will generate electricity at rates that will be competitive with electricity generated by coal which is currently at 4.5 cents a kilowatt hour. 

The buoys that will be place off the Oregon coast will be the largest yet 30 feet wide, weighing 50 tons capable of generating 150 kilowatts each.  The buoy field will initially will generate two megawatts but their goal is 50 megawatts enough to power 50,000 homes. 

Reedsport, Oregon is an excellent spot to install these buoys for a number of reasons.  An old paper mill no longer in use has a pipe extending two miles in the ocean making it a great conduit for the electrical cables from the buoys.  Also an abandoned utility substation nearby with heavy duty transmission wires in place will provide a connection to the electrical grid. 

Taylor plans to install a 100 ton 37 foot wide buoy by 2010 that could generate 500 kilowatts.  This unit could generate electricity for less then the price of coal burning power stations. 

Names of other off shore electric generating devices are call the Mighty Whale, Wave Dragon, Archimedes Wave Swing, WavePlane, and the Pendulor. 

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Wave Power

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