More wave power options

These looks pretty cool. They are like those shake up flashlights.

http://eecs.oregonstate.edu/wesrf/

Before you fall in love you should know these babies are a HOT topic right now at the PFMC.  Great idea, but their installation comes with a fishing closure...some of the installations are 2 miles by 20 miles.  usually over prime salmon and crab type of seafloor.  Between these and the MLPA (which are NOT coordinated) we could see additive closures that will turn us into a knitting circle.

Why do they require a closure around them?  It may make trawling or crab trapping unfeasible, but hook and line fishing can easily be done around buoys like that.  They'll probably be farther apart than the lobster trap buoys were at SCI.

Its not the fishing folks that want it closed, its the power companys.  What you can't see in the photos are all of the cables underwater.  They have a very complex anchor and cable system that create and underwater parallelagram to keep it in one spot while allowing vertical movement to generate juice.  They don't want people tangling there gear all over it.  Not to mention there is a bunch of vigh voltage crap under there too.

In addition, they don't want the liability of your boat getting crushed by their bouy going up and down.  Unlike the dinky lobster bouys at SCI (that people did get tangled in) these things are humungous and could easily sink a boat. 

If they could place them further out to sea that would be great but it looks like they are expecting to be close to shore. If they where like 10-20 miles out there is a lot more "open" space out there. I wonder how much power they would lose over that distance?

I'm sure there are Homeland Security issues as well.  It's not like you can walk up to a power plant these days.

-Allen

OK how about offshore wind farms?

http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9832103-39.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Anyone see a theme developing?

OK how about offshore wind farms?

http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9832103-39.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Anyone see a theme developing?

you mean a bunch of retarded ideas? yeah, I do.  what's wrong with nuclear power?

what's wrong with nuclear power?

They'll probably want to dump the waste in the ocean ... 

-Allen

Nothing is wrong with nuclear in my book. It is way better than coal. You do have the heated waste water issue but you could always do a nuclear plant + reservoir to get around that issue. That might make some nice bass and striper habitat.

I do think we need to spread the load though nuclear, wind, solar, tidal, wave etc... 

Wave energy needs to be inshore for minimizing voltage loss and for maximizing wave action. 

Not sure why its soooooo mysterious...SOLAR SOLAR SOLAR.  We are making enough juice at my office now to run our entire operation...water production, delivery, and our office space.  And I get to park in the shade now too...in our giant solar carport.

Glad to see someone is doing the carport. I always wondered why I did not see more of that. Everyone wants covered parking and covered parking + cheap power seems like a no brainer.

Don't we have someone on the board that works with solar installation and systems? PM me as I am looking at a grid tie system for my ranch.

-Brian G

I had some interest in the solar set-up at my work.  This is NOT GWKC but the SCWA.  Our GM went nuts...I think it is super cool.  Here are some pics...

The office and carport, this array makes just over a half a megawatt!  The carport has plugs for EVs and plug-in hybrids.



This is a huge array on a levee of one of our sewage treatment ponds.  It makes around 3/4 of a megawatt.  In person, this thing looks enormous.

I'm off the wave energy topic here, tho' am following it closely, since I live near Fort Bragg. About solar, I've been wanting to start with a small solar carport or roof array (grid connected, reverseable metering and maybe no batteries) that I can add onto later (modular system) for our family home.

It's just that with so many solar options/technologies around, it's a bit overwhelming about where to start, and it just doesn't seem to pay off for a small family system so far.  Anyone in the group have a solar system that they are happy with that is affordable?  Links where we can research?  Thanks,  -Matt