Ocean Energy - Powering Trinidad's Grid and Economy With the Motion of the Ocean

There's lots of great discussion going on locally about ocean energy, and particularly wave energy. I had the pleasure of meeting some locals who are excitedly beginning to research current technology and look at developing systems right here in Trinidad. We would demonstrate both our commitment and our responsibility to sustainability by using local talent to explore this exciting potential from fishing and economic impacts, to environmental impacts, all the way to welding prototypes with local artisans.

Our Town's commitment to our fishing industries, and to our scenic and environmental protection, with sustainability as a keystone, is documented in our Planning Commission's draft Vision Statement for Trinidad's General Plan Update.

Mega-what?

While everyone's wrangling around figuring out how to make this economically feasible and all, what if we look at our tiny City, and how much energy it takes to run all our homes. So what really is a megawatt (MW) and how many homes can one MW serve? Watts (W) measure power. Ok pay attention, a 100W lightbulb uses 100W when it is turned on, then you measure the number of hours it's on to get the watt-hour (Wh) of energy -- 5 hours = 500Wh. Watts measure instantaneous power, while watt-hours measure the total over time. Got that?

When looking at MW ratings, it's important to remember the average power production over time due to maintenance and downtime, and you need a backup generation source that can "follow" changes in load. I'm not going into capacity factors or average and peak load factors (google it if you're curious) - let's just characterize this as demand. For West Coast consumers I've seen consumption numbers around 650 kWh/month. Up here we have natural, healthy, environmentally friendly air-conditioning in our fog. Bet we are lots less than that.

Who knows our monthly household average kWh consumption in Trinidad, or how to find it?

A common "myth" is 1 MW of generation equates to 1,000 homes. It depends on where those homes are. In southern areas, energy consumption can be twice as high. Here it may be even lower. So how much will we need to harvest from the ocean each month? 

While I search for those answers, here's more wave energy info. 

There's an interesting state-commissioned white paper that was co-authored by Humboldt State experts exploring our current knowledge. Perhaps it will provide such R&D groups like the one forming in Trinidad with goals toward producing and situating mechanisms in the most environmentally positive situations, while also protecting or possibly enhancing our fishing industries.

As I receive information on using the motion of our Ocean, I'll post it here.
CleanTechnica Blog Article By Gavin Newsom 2/09 - Wave Energy to Bring Power and Jobs to San Francisco

References:

Trinidad General Plan Update: Draft Vision Statement

HSU Info: Wave Energy Deemed Feasible, But Gnarly

White Paper

Times-Standard Report: Wave Energy Begins in Rough Waters

Resource and Information Links:

Wave Dragon - '07 Wave Dragon Environment Impact Assessment

WaveEnergyToday.com

e! Science News - Your Daily Dose of Eureka! - Catch the Wave

ABC.Net.AU - Science Show: CETO in Australia; 35% of AU Energy Needs ...

LOCE Wind and Wave Energy Weblog Archive: '05 Renewable Energy Insider: The Promise of Ocean Energy and more ...

BBC News: '05 Wave Power Plan for Welsh Coast -The Wave Dragon