Wave Energy Power:
A Renewable Resource Whose Real-Scale Application
Is Moving Closer
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, May 27―The 16th International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference (ISOPE-2006), to be held in San Francisco May 28-June 2, features a presentation on one of today’s most compelling topics: The renewable energy sector, and specifically wave energy development, widely regarded as an up-and-coming industry with a very large potential world market.
At the May 29 opening session, three leading figures in the field ― Antonio J.N.A. Sarmento, Veronica La Regina and Frank Neumann, of the Wave Energy Centre in Lisbon ― will give an overview of the technological, economical and political aspects of wave energy development as conducted in Europe, where researchers are targeting the achievement of a level of wave energy power that can be installed worldwide for a competitive price per kilowatt/hour.
The driver behind wave energy power development is this: The total power of waves propagating toward the world's coastlines is estimated at 2 to 3 million megawatts. A number of independent research, dissemination or test centers, such as EMEC in the United Kingdom and the Wave Energy Centre in Portugal, have focused on converting this renewable ― that is, inexhaustible and sustainable ― resource into the solution of the energy-supply dilemma faced by contemporary societies. Most of the technologies working toward real-scale application are European, and they are moving toward international collaboration within the European Ocean Energy Association.
At their ISOPE-2006 presentation on May 29, Sarmento and his fellow researchers will analyze and discuss:
· The European landscape of wave conversion technologies now in the pre-commercial stage;
· the landscape of financial and governmental policies and support mechanisms now available in Europe; and
· the so-called demand-pull approach still necessary to gain successful deployment.
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Contact: Jin S. Chung
ISOPE Executive Director & Conference Chair