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Gulf of Mexico Gets Wave-Powered Desalination Plant

Posted by Soulskill on from the hope-it-comes-with-an-oil-filter dept.

blair1q writes "The US Army Corps of Engineers has issued the first permit for a wave-powered desalination plant in American territory to a company called Independent Natural Resources. Waves will operate 'Seadog' pumps, which will lift water into the plant and onto a water wheel connected to a generator, which will create electricity to operate a reverse-osmosis desalination system. The permit runs for four years. Let's hope they don't harm the environment, permanently impact drilling operations, or give Rube Goldberg any crazy ideas..."

2 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Quick Question by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Drink it? Use it for cleaning? Any damn thing you do with water?

    Many will notice rivers tend to flow towards oceans.

  2. Just a demo by Animats · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Rather than sell electricity or water, though, operators will be taking data to measure impact on sea life, the generator's performance, and the cost of operation, said Douglas Sandberg, the vice president of the privately funded company."

    So it's just a demo. Only generates 60KW. Not clear if that's average or max power; probably max. On days with low surf, not much will happen.

    They've been hyping this since 2004. There are better wave powered generation devices, and even the best ones are commercial flops.