Yesterday we explored Ocean Themal Energy Conversion and today we’ll move to mechanical harvest of the ocean’s energy. In the past, we’ve done an entry on tidal barrage which is one form of mechanical conversion using a reservoir system.


Illustration of channel reservoir system

Fundamentally there are two ways to mechanically harvest ocean energy, using the wave motion and/or using tidal action. One of the simplest devices is the channel reservoir system which uses tidal action and wave action to capture water in a reservoir then uses gravity to release the water through a turbine.


Example of floating reservoir system (Seapower)

Commercial interest in reservoir systems has existed for some time with Sweden’s Seapower, Norway’s Norwave, Denmark’s Waveplane International, and Wave Dragon. The animated gif below shows the Wave Dragon floating platform that is intended to capture water from the waves breaching the outer rim of the device, holding the water in a reservoir, then allowing it to drain through a turbine generating electricity.



We’ll look at other harvest technologies in future entries.

Raser Technologies announced today that it has secured seven more geothermal leases in Utah, adding 13,887 acres to its portfolio. Investors seemed to like the news sending to stock up more than 3% on the news. However, investors should realize that development of geothermal resources take years; greenfield development is slow and fraught with difficulty. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see a company approach the challenge with obvious passion and enthusiasm.

There are principally two ways to harvest energy from the ocean, mechanically (think waves and tides) and thermally (think solar energy stored in the water and temperature difference between deep ocean and the surface.) Ocean Energy Thermal Conversion (OETC) has been around well over 100 years and works either in an open or closed cycle (works just like organic rankine cycle geothermal systems.) The prospects of OETC were first proposed in 1881 by Jacques Arsene d’Arsonval, a French physicist.

The concept was first proved in 1930 by Georges Claude off the coast of Cuba with a 22 kilowatt unit and later off the coast of Brazil with a 10,000 ton cargo vessel. Both plants were destroyed in storms before either had demonstrated net power production (producing more energy than the system consumes during operation.) In 1956 the French made another attempt at OETC off the Ivory Coast planning a 3MW facility. While construction was started, it was never completed due to high costs.


Illustration of an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plant

The first oil crisis spurred the US into the act in 1974 when the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority was established. The group created a 52 kilowatt mini-OETC plant that was moored a couple of miles off the coast that was a net producer (15 kilowatts,) enough to operate the ship’s electrical systems. In 1999, the group successfully tested a 250 kilowatt system. Both of these experiments were closed or binary approaches.


OTEC Closed Cycle Plant Illustration

In 1984, NELHA created a 50 kilowatt open system, boiling seawater at low pressures, that had efficiencies as high as 97%. It turns out the open approach also has the interesting by-products of nearly pure fresh water, very cold sea water, and the solids left by evaporation which can be rich in up to 57 different trace minerals. This could have a use in desalination, mining, and aquaculture in addition to simply producing power.


OTEC Open Cycle Plant Illustration

The National Renewable Energy Lab has ceased all work in this area, this isn’t uncommon in today’s DoE as they seem to only care about nuclear power and the elusive “clean coal” technology. But, private firms are continuing to explore this concept and seem to be moving ahead slowly. NELHA remains the only site with active use of OETC, though it is relatively small scale and used principally for aquaculture.

Commercial development is still underway with proposals for 100MW sea power plants by Sea Solar Power Inc. and SEA02’s proposal for an ocean-based, sustainable city called Townsville.

This week we’ll tour the advances happening in ocean energy. Why? Check the map out below for one reason:



The figures above indicate potential power available in kilowatts per meter. As is clear from the map, there is an enormous amount of energy in the ocean simply waiting to be harvested. Given that the Earth’s surface is 70% covered in ocean, this is a vast untapped energy resource. In future entries, we’ll delve into the major harvest technologies, both mechanical and thermal, and we’ll take a look at the companies attempting to make a commericial success in this area.

Stay tuned for more information.

Earlier this week there was news that Kirk Kerkorian made a $4.5B cash bid for Chrysler. Must be nice to have that much change lying around…

But to get to the point of this post, it is Easter weekend and for a couple of billion people around the globe, that means celebrating the resurrection of Jesus (or, something to do with rabbits laying colorful eggs and various chocolate treats.) But I digress. Let’s assume Kerkorian gets Chrysler from the good folks at Daimler, what should he do with it?

Like all American auto makers, it has a fleet of non-competitive vehicles, which coupled with rising fuel costs, is simply hammering sales. I snagged the graph below from the film An Inconvenient Truth, unfortunately, Chrysler’s market cap wasn’t on the slide since it is a subsidiary company.



It doesn’t take a Wall Street expert to interpret this chart. Fuel efficient vehicles are winning, and winning big. Last week, Toyota announced that it sold 28,453 hybrid vehicles in March. More than all of Saturn, GM’s fastest growing brand. This is not a temporary shift, it is permanent, inexorable, and accelerating.

As Easter suggests, sometimes things need to die before they can be resurrected and come back even stronger. I think that’s where the US Auto Industry is, it’s clearly dying because it is incapable of change.

Mr. Kerkorian, here’s the challenge: Don’t use half-measures, don’t compromise with hybrids. Crucify the gasoline and diesel engine. The 640hp Electric Mini project has already proved this is possible. Take the bold step forward to launch the following all electric vehicles from Chrysler:

• Full-sized pickup
• 4 door sedan
• Minivan
• Station wagon
• Coupe

Don’t get cute with this stuff, no distinctive designs, no hybrid systems, keep the range over 250 miles (400km,) and engineer the systems to use 4 motors, one on each wheel. Use your existing designs, rip the combustion engines, emissions equipment, and transmissions out and replace them with deep cycle batteries, 4 wheel mounted motors, and a 100 foot (30m) retractable extension cord. Engineer the power system to have the right performance characteristics: i.e., good low-end torque on the truck and fast acceleration on the passenger vehicles.

Get to market next year. It’s possible. What do you lose? The old market. The long haul market. But, do you care? Chrysler has lost, or is rapidly losing those markets anyway. Use your brand, your dealer network, and your manufacturing and distribution infrastructure to make this happen and to make it happen fast. And if Chrysler ultimately dies as a result of this decision? At least it went out swinging. And hey, you’re worth $15B now, you’ve still got $10B left.

This is not the time for half-measures, it’s the time for bold leadership. We’re closing factories and shipping work offshore, we’re sending billions into the middle east to fund terror each time we fill our gas tank, the temperature of the earth is quickly rising as a result of greenhouse gases. We’re facing a crisis on multiple dimensions.

Mr. Kerkorian, when you bought those surplus World War II bombers you took an enormous risk. When you built the original MGM Grand Casino, at the time, the world’s largest hotel, you took an enormous risk. You’ve got a track record, you’ve got the cash, you can do this.

The question is, will you?