canada and bermuda latest

Here's a recent article about the site at Ucluelet, Canada. It looks like CNM now has a $2mill grant to help set up a pilot plant there.

It's interesting that the deal includes not just REH(CNM) & EDF but also GEH as well (together under the name "Pacific Wave Energy Corporation"). The Bermuda project has a similar set up, with REH(CNM), EDF and Triton (together under the name "Renewable Energy Bermuda").

I think we can look forward to hearing about many such arrangements across the globe in the near future. Hooking up with well connected local companies in each country/state is no doubt the best way of quickly getting access to the best wave sites. CNM's primary goal for the next few years (in addition to the demonstration plant) will no doubt be to secure as many of the best sites for wave farms around the world as they can.

There's also a Bermuda article at the end - which no doubt you've seen. It's interesting that they're planning to put the buoys 1.5km from the coastline - it does indicate how versatile they will be.

UCLUELET,CANADA

Energy projects bring millions to coast
Shayne Morrow, Alberni Valley Times and Jennifer Dart, Westerly News
Published: Thursday, April 09, 2009

A multi-million dollar green energy project to be built off Amphitrite Point could have major spin-offs for the entire region.

It's part of a $32.6 million green energy initiative announced by the provincial government, with $4.75 million directed toward the West Coast.

Funding for this area will come from the Clean Energy Fund. Two million will go toward a wave-generation project off Tofino by Sync Wave Systems, another $750,000 to a geo-thermal initiative by Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, and another $2 million to a partnership of the District of Ucluelet and Pacific Coastal Wave Energy Corporation.

The Pacific Coastal Wave plan is to build a demonstration project that will generate up to four megawatts (mw) of electricity, using the movement of the ocean swell to pump water to a shore-based turbine station, explained former Ucluelet mayor and Liberal candidate for Alberni Pacific Rim Dianne St. Jacques.

"The shore footprint is very small -- about the size of a double-car garage," she said. "The water is pumped on shore to a Pelton wheel turbine, and then it's returned to the ocean."

Brian de Clare is the president of Victoria-based Global Energy Horizons (GEH), which jointly owns Pacific Coastal Wave Energy Corp., with UK-based Renewable Energy Holdings (REH).

GEH partnered with the District of Ucluelet and the Ucluelet Economic Development Corporation to apply for the Island Coastal Economic Trust funding.

"The company would like to build the system up and down the coast of North America and Ucluelet will be the show-piece," said St. Jacques.

Former Ucluelet administrator Geoff Lyons, now consulting to the Ucluelet Economic Development Corporation, said the announcement could be just the beginning for this type of partnership.

"This is a great start towards bringing to reality the four mw pilot project, and hopefully greater things," he said.

With deep-water access, available waterfront industrial property, and a skilled work force, de Clare said Port Alberni is a natural site to produce the equipment.

The CECO system uses a multitude of buoys anchored to the ocean floor, between 15 and 50 metres deep. de Clare said the submerged buoys are set in constant motion by the ocean swell, not the waves. Those constantly moving buoys in turn provide the motive power for a patented pump system on the ocean floor.

"They push sea water onto land at a pressure of 1,000 pounds per square inch (psi)," de Clare explained. In Ucluelet, that water pressure will drive a turbine generator, but it can also be used to turn seawater into fresh water.

The pump system is self-lubricating with sea water, and the generation takes place on land which removes two major environmental objections to the CECO system, de Clare said. And he said the materials used in the CECO system -- Hypalon plastic, stainless steel and concrete -- are familiar and benign.

The technology works best with one-to two-metre swells, which the site has on an almost constant basis.

"Ucluelet is a great site. The best places in the world are on the west coast of continents," King said. "And the regime off the West Coast of Vancouver Island is superb. Ucluelet is the only place on the West Coast of B.C. where the (Hydro) grid goes right to the ocean. It's the ideal site to develop the technology."

A secondary goal is to make Ucluelet the wave energy capital of Canada, King said. Besides the spinoff benefits in employment and tax revenues, the project would become an educational mecca for green energy, and a tourist attraction in its own right.

de Clare said the project must undergo an environmental review prior to construction. That's expected to take about a year, he added.



BERMUDA

Bermuda could pioneer new wave energy system
By Amanda Dale

Negotiations are underway to build a wave energy test site in the East End by the end of next year.

Bermudian company Triton Renewable Energy is discussing housing the renewable energy facility at a BLDC (Bermuda Land Development Company) reverse osmosis plant in St. David's.

Offshore, it plans to locate CETO technology at a sandhole 1.5 km offshore, to harness the power of the ocean.

The pilot facility would generate two megawatts of electricity and be the first commercial use of the CETO technology following testing in Ireland and Australia.

Triton Renewable Energy has teamed up with Isle-of-Man company Renewable Energy Holdings (REH) and French company EDF Energies Nouvelles S.A., in a joint venture called Renewable Energy Bermuda (REB).

If the pilot plant proves successful, Triton Renewable Energy hopes to increase output to 20 megawatts with a facility the size of three football fields.

This would provide between 15 and 20 percent of Bermuda's energy needs, according to environmental projects manager Dr. Annie Glasspool.

"We've been talking to BLDC, Belco and Government, and the signs so far are very encouraging," said Dr. Glasspool.

"We hope to get the facility up and running by the end of 2010 but are now seeking feedback from the community. We want to ensure that the interests of the whole community are taken into consideration.

"We've been having meetings with special interest groups and obviously all the local environmental groups. But as we're in the early days of the process, there are still some key groups we have yet to talk with.

"It's important to us therefore to ensure that we communicate the facts and explain the process we are taking effectively. I would certainly urge anyone who has any questions to contact us," she said.

"We will also be ensuring that we do our best to take every opportunity to talk this through with the public as we start to move things forwards."

The CETO technology works akin to a bicycle pump. Water-filled buoys bob up and down in the waves, drawing seawater into pumps. The water is propelled through pipes to a shoreside turbine and electricity is then produced into the grid.

"It is very environmentally-friendly as it does not produce electricity in the water and there's no oil or harmful lubricants," said Dr. Glasspool. "There are zero emissions so it is clean energy with a minimal visual impact and noise."

Triton Renewable Energy managing director Tim Hasselbring started researching different ocean technologies with company partner Jeff Manson seven years ago. Eventually they decided on CETO as the most suitable renewable energy technology for the Island.

"We discovered this technology in its early stages in 2003 at a conference in Ireland," said Mr. Hasselbring.

"Although it has been tested in Ireland and Australia, the CETO development company want Bermuda to be the first commercial site.

"It's a very simple device which operates in a similar way to a bicycle pump. We've now entered into negotiations with BLDC, and so we are very excited about the project. Everyone seems to be enthusiastic about it."

He said the next stage of the process would be to produce an Environmental Impact Assessment.

"We have teamed up with local environmentalists and feel this facility is certainly now within the realms of possibility," said Mr. Hasslebring.