PG&E initiating wave power research

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) today announced the first steps toward developing generation projects that could convert the abundant wave energy off the northern coast California into electricity.

PG&E filed two preliminary permit applications with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for two initial trial projects, one in Humboldt county and one in Mendocino county.

"The waters off the coast of Humboldt and Mendocino counties have excellent wave power potential," said Fong Wan, PG&E's vice president of energy procurement. "The development of this new type of energy resource, which generates electricity from the movement of water near the surface of the ocean, is one of the many sources of clean, non-polluting, renewable energy that PG&E is aggressively pursuing."

The proposed developments will begin with resource, environmental, and ocean use studies and, if developed, would use wave energy conversion devices to transform the energy of ocean waves into electricity.

Most of the technologies devices being considered by PG&E float on the ocean surface and generate electricity when waves are present, the company said.

PG&E intends to invite multiple manufacturers to demonstrate their devices. Spokesperson Keely Wachs wouldn't share all vendors' names with the Cleantech Group, but said the company would "certainly include the three leading ocean power vendors," which he identified as Finavera Renewables, Ocean Power Delivery and Ocean Power Technologies. A single vendor would likely be selected for both projects, he said.

PG&E, as the lead developer, will be responsible for the permitting of the sites and will encourage the participation of multiple device manufacturers in the projects.

Phased development of the sites would proceed if technical results support feasibility, environmental studies show that any significant impacts can be fully mitigated, and stakeholder considerations can be satisfactorily addressed.

In a statement, PG&E said it plans to take a leading role in identifying and repeatedly pledged to study and mitigate any potential impacts to the marine environment in order to preserve species and maintain the beauty and diversity of coastal waters.

PG&E intends to utilize the most effective technologies for the wave energy projects. If fully developed, the projects could each provide up to 40 megawatts of clean renewable electric supply.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company already obtains 12% of its energy from qualifying renewable sources under California's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and small hydroelectric. In addition, more than 50% of the electricity that PG&E delivers to its customers comes from generating resources that emit no or low carbon dioxide, the primary contributor to global warming.

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