This story was initially released by CalMatters
The world’s oceans might be vast, but they are becoming bustling. Coastal areas are congested with freight ships, global commercial fishing fleets, maritime vessels, oil rigs and, soon, floating platforms for deep-sea mining.
The Pacific Ocean is about to get even busier: Nearly 600 square miles of ocean off California have been leased for floating wind farms with more expected. Now the state is considering hosting another renewable energy innovation in the sea: Blue power, electricity generated from waves and tides.
A new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October instructs state agencies to study the feasibility and impacts of harnessing ocean motion to generate power and report back to the Legislature by January 2025.
The goal is to boost an industry that could fill in the power gaps as California aims to achieve its goal of transitioning to an all-renewable electricity grid by 2045.
For all the interest in renewable energy– and the government subsidies– public investment in ocean energy has lagged behind. And the technology that would make the projects more efficient, cost-effective and able to withstand a punishing sea environment is still under development.
So far, a handful of small demonstration projects have been launched off the West Coast, although none has produced commercial power for the grid. Through 2045, the California Energy Commission’s new projections for future power do not include any wave and tidal power. Energy experts say there is great potential along the Pacific coast.
“Of all the energies out there, marine energy has been the slowest to develop. We are kind of where land-based wind was 20 or 30 years ago,” said Tim Ramsey, marine energy program manager at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office
Energy from waves and tides is generated by a force that the ocean regularly provides– motion. Wave and tidal devices take different forms, most capturing the ocean’s kinetic movement as seawater flows through cylinders or when floating devices move up and down or sideways. Sometimes, that movement creates hydraulic pressure that spins a turbine or generator.
As with all developing energy technologies, Ramsey said, the cost to produce wave and tidal power is expected to be quite high in the early years.
There have been advances in technology, getting ocean-based projects from the pilot phase to providing commercial power to the grid is the next challenge for the industry– and it’s a significant one.
“It’s very expensive right now, and really tough to do. Working out in the water is highly complex, sometimes in the harshest places on Earth … Then being able to build something that can last 20 to 30 years. We’ve made progress,
