Ocean Energy Tech To Be Tested Off Australian Coast

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 6, 2011 @03:21PM from the wave-of-the-future dept.

cylonlover writes "The researchers at Australia's BioPower Systems evidently looked at kelp, and thought, 'what if we could use that swaying action to generate power?' The result was their envisioned bioWAVE system: 'At the base of each bioWAVE system would be a triangular foundation, keeping it anchored to the sea floor. Extending up from the middle of that foundation would be a central column, topped with multiple blades — these would actually be more like a combination of the kelp's blades and floats, as they would be cylindrical, buoyant structures that just reach to the surface. The column would join the foundation via a hinged pivot, allowing it to bend or swivel in any direction. Wave action (both at the surface and below) would catch the blades and push them back and forth, in turn causing the column to move back and forth relative to the foundation. This movement would pressurize fluid within an integrated hydraulic power conversion module, known as an O-Drive. The movement of that fluid would spin a generator, converting the kinetic energy of the waves into electricity, which would then be delivered to shore via subsea cables.'"

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Re:Same as it ever was by UnknownSoldier · 2011-12-06 15:59 · Score: 5, Interesting

That's what geothermal energy is for.
Ideally, you would combine gravity + oceans + geothermal:
* Siphon water off the ocean
* It falls down a long tunnel, turning a fan
* It heats up, goes up another shaft turning fan #2
* Redirect the vapor back into shaft 1
With wave & geothermal, we [would] all the energy we need.
Fish on tap by dbIII · 2011-12-06 17:23 · Score: 5, Interesting

I did a bit of work at a pump storage mini-hydro plant once (only two little 250MW generators) which is used to supply power at peak times so operates at about the same time each day. Lined up at the netting designed to keep idiots from driving their skiboats up to the outlets were a lot of very large turtles and a cormorant on nearly every float - just waiting. Each day a lot of very confused fish get dumped at that spot.
The turbines in that case wouldn't mince the fish - the blades are fairly blunt, run at relatively low revolutions and are so far apart that I entered the tunnel behind a turbine by climbing through a gap between two blades. Of course it was all shut down for the week with the pipework exiting the turbine removed.