ALTHOUGH THESE FORCES CAN BE DEVASTATING, THE Z60’S UNIQUE DESIGN DEMONSTRATES THESE FORCES CAN BE HARNESSED EFFECTIVELY AND WITH AN EXCELLENT RETURN ON INVESTMENT.
50% OF THE WORLDS POPULATION LIVES WITHIN 50 MILES (80KMS) OF THE OCEAN COASTLINE
USA WAVE ENERGY:
WEST COAST 250 TWH/YEAR;
ALASKA 620 TWH/YEAR;
HAWAII 80 TWH/YEAR;
EAST COAST 160 TWH/YEAR;
GULF OF MEXICO 60 TWH/YEAR;
PUERTO RICO 20 TWH/YEAR;
“EPRI: "The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has completed a recent analysis of the U.S. wave energy resource potential. EPRI estimates the total wave energy resource along the outer continental shelf at 2,640 TWh/yr. That is an enormous potential, considering that just 1 TWh/yr of energy will supply around 93,850 average U.S. homes with power annually. EPRI estimates that the total recoverable resource along the U.S. shelf edge is 1,170 TWh/yr, which is almost one third of the 4,000 TWh of electricity used in the United States each year." And that is just Wave Energy.
THE NECESSITY FOR A NEW BI-DIRECTIONAL TURBINE:
THE Z60 TURBINE CAN DOUBLE THE OUTPUT OF A TIDAL ENERGY CONVERTER
FOR EXAMPLE A TIDAL ENERGY CONVERTER BEING BUILT USING 2 X 2MW TURBINES: ONE FOR THE INCOMING TIDE AND THE SECOND FOR THE OUTGOING TIDE COULD BE DESIGNED WITH JUST ONE Z60 BI-DIRECTIONAL TURBINE WITH THE SAME TOTAL MW OUTPUT AND SIGNIFICANTLY LOWERING THE INVESTMENT, OR USING 2 X 2MW Z60 TURBINES AND DOUBLING THE OUTPUT FOR ROUGHLY AN EQUIVILANT INVESTMENT.
EPRI: For an energy source to be viable and useful in modern power markets, it does not necessarily need to be constant, but it must be reliable; i.e., a utility provider must be able to predict when the supply will be available and in what quantities so that it can be matched with other generation sources to meet demand. This poses a problem for renewable generation technologies dependent on weather conditions, such as solar, wind and wave, since their variability is stochastic in nature, i.e. a project can experience a few hours of windy or sunny weather, or it can experience a few days of windy or sunny weather.
Moreover, daytime solar energy fluxes can be forecast only minutes ahead (due to the vagaries of cloud formation), wind for hours ahead, and ocean waves for days ahead, with decreasing precision as the forecast time is extended. Being dependent on deterministic astronomical forces rather than weather, tidal power is much more predictable than solar, wind or wave power. If the tidal current flow regime at a particular location has been properly studied (i.e. measured for at least 29 days), its variation can be predicted with considerable accuracy over the entire 20- or 30-year life of the project...
...Waves are excellent sourced of energy, are a natural resource, and are renewable. Waves in shallow water are one of the best ways to capture this energy as this is when the wave energy is at its maximum. Wave energy can be categorized in both potential and kinetic, where the potential energy is a factor of the wave amplitude and displacement and the kinetic energy is a factor of the translation of the particles. These energies can be captured using opposing forces such as drag and buoyancy. How much energy is captured depends upon a number of factors: wave translation, wave height, the number of waves in a set period, the type of converter used and its efficiency of capturing both the potential and kinetic wave energy.
MARINE ENERGY INFORMATION RESOURCES:
EPRI: THE ELECTRIC POWER RESEARCH INSTITUTE
EERE: ENERGY-EFFICIENCY-RENEWABLE-ENERGY
NREL: NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY
BOEM: BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT
THE ABOVE LINKS HAVE EXCELLENT INFORMATION FOR THE LATEST STATE OF THE TECHNOLOLGY FOR OCEAN ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICES. HAVING THIS INFORMATION ONE WILL UNDERSTAND WHY THE Z60 TURBINE IS A GAME CHANGER THAT WILL MAKE OCEAN ENERGY CONVERSION AN ECONOMIC REALITY.
VARIOUS EXAMPLES OF THE BASIC FUNCTIONING OF OCEAN ENERGY CONVERTERS
SOURCE AQUARET
(click any image for enlarged slides)
Ocean waves arise from the transfer of energy from the sun to wind then water. Solar energy creates wind which then blows over the ocean, converting wind energy to wave energy. Once converted, this wave energy can travel thousands of miles with little energy loss. Most importantly, waves are a regular source of power with an intensity that can be accurately predicted several days before their arrival [20]. Furthermore, wave energy is more predictable than wind or solar energy. Fig. 1 depicts wave power levels in kW/m of wave crest, the typical units for measuring wave energy.
J. Vining. University of Wisconsin Madison. Dec. 2005. Ocean Wave Energy Conversion: Tidal currents occur in a very different manner than marine currents. The tides transpire as a result of the Moon’s gravitational pull on the ocean. Depending on location and geography, tidal currents come in half-day (semi-diurnal), daily (diurnal), and 14-day cycles. Instead of a constant flow in one direction as with marine currents, tidal currents flow in one direction at the beginning of the cycle and reverse directions at the end of the cycle. Estimates conclude that marine and tidal currents combined contain about 5 TW of energy, which is on the scale of the world’s total power consumption.
Prototypes of marine current generators have been deployed in both Europe and the US. The technology used to harbor this type of energy is similar to hydroelectric, and some models may even be described as looking like underwater wind turbines. Two main types of ocean currents exist: marine currents and tidal currents. Both types are influenced by the rotation of the Earth and are highly predictable. Marine currents such as the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic originate from differences in water temperature within the ocean. When water at the Equator warms up, it moves towards the poles then cools, sinks, and flows back towards the Equator. The speed with which this water conveyor belt moves is cyclic in that it speeds up and slows down over about a ten year period.
A HEALTHY PLANET DEPENDS ON CREATIVITY AND CLEAN ENERGY
