PG&E First to Buy Wave Energy

PG&E First to Buy Wave Energy



January 2008  - Pacific Gas and 
Electric Company has entered into a long-term, two megawatt commercial 
wave energy power purchasing agreement with Finavera Renewables Inc. both 
companies said Tuesday. 
Finavera has begun development plans for the two megawatt wave energy 
project to be constructed 2.5 miles off the coast of Humboldt County, 
California. 
The project is expected to begin delivering electricity in 2012 to PG&E's 
customers throughout its northern and central California service 
territory. 
"Harnessing the ocean's energy on a utility scale is a critical 
achievement in renewable energy technology and this project represents our 
first step in that direction," said Fong Wan, vice president of Energy 
Procurement, PG&E. 
Finavera Renewables' planned offshore power project consists of patented 
wave energy converters that are based on marine buoy technology, the 
company says. Clusters of these modular devices called AquaBuOYs will be 
moored several miles offshore where the wave resource is the greatest. 

A cluster of AquaBuOYs would have a low silhouette in the water. Located 
several miles offshore, the wave power project arrays would be visible to 
allow for safe navigation and about as visible as a small fleet of fishing 
boats. 
The wave power projects are scalable from hundreds of kilowatts to 
hundreds of megawatts and are designed to provide clean, renewable energy 
for large population centers. 
Energy transfer takes place by converting the vertical component of wave 
kinetic energy into pressurized seawater by means of two-stroke hose 
pumps. 
The pressurized seawater is directed into an energy conversion system 
consisting of a turbine driving an electrical generator. The power is 
transmitted to shore by means of an undersea transmission line. 
"This power purchase agreement with PG&E represents a major accomplishment 
for Finavera Renewables and the development of commercial wave energy 
power projects," said Finavera Renewables CEO Jason Bak. "This is a huge 
step forward for offshore wave energy." 
Finavera intends to build wave energy power plants globally and is now 
developing wave energy projects for AquaBuOY in Canada, and South Africa. 
The project in South Africa is the result of a commitment made by Bak to 
the Clinton Global Initiative. 
In addition to PG&E's agreement with Finavera Renewables, the utility 
independently filed permit applications with the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission in February to develop generation projects that could convert 
the wave energy off the coast of Mendocino and Humboldt counties into 
electricity. 
Named "WaveConnect," these projects are currently undergoing initial 
resource, environmental, and ocean use assessments. If developed, the 
WaveConnect projects would use wave energy conversion devices to transform 
the energy of ocean waves into electricity. 
PG&E submitted the first application in North America for a project that 
will allow multiple WEC device manufacturers to demonstrate their devices 
on a common site, which could help accelerate the development of wave 
energy technology. 
"Wave energy, along with solar thermal energy and biogas generated from 
cow manure, are examples of the innovative and promising sources of 
non-polluting, renewable energy PG&E is pursuing as part of our commitment 
to combat climate change," said Wan. 

---