I had no idea it was already being used.
(Although mine was for hydrogen extraction)
Those had better be some serious chains and anchors.
Does being bigger make it more durable than smaller units, when you include all possible costs, which includes replacement costs?
Will it screw up the surfing?
Junk to clutter up the ocean.
Will they ever stop with this insanity.
Build nukes!
Modern small modular-capable nuclear energy power-plants are a much better idea.
Everythig natural in nature - the wind, the waves, the sun is important to how the world works. How much energy can you “harvest” from them before you alter the way they work.
Do giant wind farms alter the winds?
Does “harversting” energy from waves, alter ocean currnts by the degree their energy has been reduced?
How cooler would the world get if solar arrays captured 100% of the electricity needed for everything?
Just asking.
Oh finally! The government’s price was finally revealed in the last paragraph of this piece of publicity stunt: 12.5 million for a single “potential” 1.25 Megawatt offshore generator.
No connection to shore power. No cabling, Tidewater access roads and towers. Transformers and rectifiers or inverters or battery storage devices so what little energy is created at random tides can be provided “when it is actually needed” back on shore.
I have worked on pump motors bigger than 1.25 Megawatt. Worked on local ponds with 1930-era hydrogenerators in a mill pond of 12 Megawatt capacity. Ten times this thing.
And you can fish or swim in that little lake under the trees.
So considering it probably won't average its potential, it will power about 700-800 homes.
Not bad. I wonder what is its total cost per KW hour?
I wonder if it would be more efficient if put in a shallower spot, where the wave amplitude is higher, or maybe the reverse it true.
This makes a lot more sense than capturing energy from radio waves. There is actually some real energy here.
Expecting to produce enough power to charge a cell phone.
>>When operating at full capacity, this first-of-its-class energy harvester boasts a “potential rated capacity” of 1.25 megawatts.
IIRC, the smallest nuke reactor in the US has a generating capacity of 582 megawatts. since the “potential rated capacity” is the unattainable happy case, I wonder what the “actual” capacity of this generator is going to be, and through how much of the year it will be able to run.
And Doc Brown might agree that if a 200-foot tsunami hits the wave-energy harvesters they might generate 1.21 gigawatts, enough to power a flux capacitor for time travel.
I built a small-scale TENG using household materials and was impressed that it could generate 100mV from a tiny kitchen sink stream of water. Harvestable energy to be sure.
You can see where I lived and worked in that picture....
Sap energy out of waves?
Sucks to be a surfer...
So, by “harnessing” the wave energy, does it in any way squelch the wave action?
In five years are we going to be hearing “Save the Waves!” from the greenies?
I had a similar idea about thirty years ago, of installing turbines on the seabed or at river mouths where there are constant currents. Someone reminded me that it would chop up too many fish and other marine critters.
“could” “might’ “may” yawn