Hoping low tech is the right tech, INRI isn't putting generators or hydraulics out to sea.
A small company called Independent Natural Resources Inc. (INRI) held a media event today to introduce its new ocean wave conversion system in the Gulf of Mexico near the city of Freeport, Texas.
And in contrast to ocean power technologies being experimented with by others, the company is taking a decidedly lower-tech approach in an attempt to make its systems more seaworthy and require less maintenance.
The company's "SEADOG" system captures ocean-wave energy from swells or waves to pump large volumes of seawater to shore-based storage or sea-based platform systems while consuming no electricity or fuel. While there are many possible applications for the SEADOG pump, INRI claims, the company is currently developing seawater desalination systems and hydroelectric energy generation based on the technology.
To create hydroelectricity, INRI plans to use SEADOGs to pump seawater to a land-based holding areas or water towers, where the water can be returned to the ocean through hydroelectric turbines. The company estimates that 1 square mile field of SEADOG pumps could generate anywhere from 50 to 1500 megawatts of hydroelectricity.
Photo of SEADOG prototype in action >>
INRI said the pump's size, configuration and capacity varies depending on the wave type, height and frequency. In its current testing in Texas, a single SEADOG pump experiencing waves from 6 inches to 6 feet has consistently pumped a range of 15,000 to 40,000 gallons of seawater per day, the company said.
Wave farms could range from 50 to 80,000 pumps and effectively function in water from 6 inches to 80 feet deep, the company claimed.
Other contemporary ocean power approaches, from companies such as Finavera Renewables, Ocean Power Delivery, Ocean Power Technologies and Bourne Energy, involve placing hydraulics or electrical generators out to sea, often miles offshore, and feeding electricity back to the mainland via undersea cables.
"There've been a thousand attempts over two hundreds years to capture wave energy. We chose a different direction because those other attempts haven't borne fruit," said CEO Mark A. Thomas to Cleantech.com.
While Thomas has a background in management and fundraising, money isn't a near term objective for INRI, he said. The company has used private funding to get to its prototype phase, and is now interested in licensing its technology to partners, "accepting royalties and potential equity positions," according to Thomas.
INRI was formed in 2002 to commercialize the pump technology from its inventor, Kenneth W. Welch, Jr., and co-inventors Curtis and Harold Rothi.
Some might ask what a company in Minnesota - not exactly known for large waves - could contribute to ocean power. After all, the inventor of the technology doesn't even have a background in related science, acknowledged Thomas.
"This is very similar in storyline to the Wright brothers and Kittyhawk. The Wright brothers didn't exactly have a background in aviation. There was no science to support their plane."
INRI is designing a larger version of the pump for a one year test off the northern coast of California in Humboldt County, in waves that range from 5 to 33 feet. Deployment is planned for mid-2007.
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Unsightly?
How close to shore would these things have to be? Unlike electrical devices, these would likely have to be pretty close to shore to move water.
Wouldn't be very nice to look at, I imagine.
Puts the rude in rudimentary
Granted this looks simpler than putting a generator in the ocean, but there's still a big point of failure on these big pistons. And I wouldn't want to try to service one in the water.
Is there not any other ocean power technology that's less complex with fewer moving parts? Isn't there a company in Australia doing bio-mimetic ocean energy conversion?
This device is far and
This device is far and away the best design of any wave machine out there. It is ultra simple
in its design and bulletproof and simple to maintain and , most impoortantly, it avoids the critivcal deficiency of many alternative energies - it produced reliable, controllable power on demand. Its electricity is far, far more valuable than anything produced by a wind turibine, or any of those other wave machines that make th efatal error of producing unreliable electricity. I happen to know that only 1 square mie of these machines can produce as much electricity at more than 3000 wind turbines. This and the Gulf Stream/tidal axial flow turbines are the only ocean machines that have a bright future. The others are every bit as crappy as wind turbines.
Indirect Seadog Electric Energy Conversion
"There've been a thousand attempts over two hundreds years to capture wave energy. We chose a different direction because those other attempts haven't borne fruit," said CEO Mark A. Thomas.
I beg to differ with Mark. The sea pump device as used to generate electricity does it with several steps as compared to direct conversion by hydraulic devices. The only advantage that pumping water to land and then sending it back through hydroelectric turbines to the ocean is for energy storage purposes to produce electricity during times when waves would be low.
I am all for wave to electric power conversion but technology in this area is becoming competitive. The bottom line is cost per Mwh. I do not see how the planned Seadog system could compete economically to produce electricity at the same cost level as with other wave technology.
adrianakau2aol.com
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