Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumThis is so cool: Wave Power Plant
Link to tweet
Ocean Waves can be a source of unlimited energy.
This Wave Power Plant, at full capacity, will produce 87 gigawatts of power.
A single gigawatt can power over 300,000 homes.
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)FBaggins
(26,694 posts)If pointing out that it's ridiculous to estimate the entire wind-energy potential of the United States and use that as a selling point for wind energy) - or correcting sub-4th-grade math errors - makes you "anti-wind"... then yes. There will be plenty of anti-wavers.
mahatmakanejeeves
(56,886 posts)I have my doubts. It has to be much, MUCH bigger than that.
Here's 500 megawatts, which is one-one hundred seventy-fourth of 87 gigawatts:
Here's Three Gorges Dam, at 22,500 MW the largest power generating thing on the planet:
The dam in September 2009
The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW) since 2012. In 2014, the dam generated 98.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) and had the world record, but was surpassed by the Itaipú Dam, which set the new world record in 2016, producing 103.1 TWh.
22,500 MW is 22.5 gigawatts.
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)If my math is correct it would take 1.74 million of those to produce 87gW.
I would have to guess that the concept will be scaled up.
FBaggins
(26,694 posts)That's the entire wave energy potential of the entire coast of Brazil ... 7500 miles of unbroken wave generators. And even that is assuming that you could extract 100% of the energy from the waves, which of course you can't (any more than we can capture 100% of the energy from wind flowing through a turbine).
mitch96
(13,816 posts)My question is maintenance and longevity. The sea is a unforgiving place. Hard on equipment.
Tidal flow is also an idea. The Bay of Fundy in Canada rises 53 feet and falls as much. That amount of water would spin a turbine also.
I wonder what the return on investment would be..
m
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,538 posts)The Doc will be able to power the DeLorean with gigawatts to spare. Great Scott!
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)mopinko
(69,804 posts)my dad was a would be inventor. he wanted desperately to have one good patent to keep a roof over our heads.
he invented/repurposed things around the house all the time.
he was ahead of his times.
and he was a stifled genius. it ate him up. so he relished these little thought experiments.
in about 1960, he took it into his head that waves could power the planet, basically for free. at the time, he researched the concept, but all he could fine was a slim physics book about waves and seas. he worked out the math. he researched the topology of the ocean floor. he was convinced that it was doable.
he built a model of a turbine that was to sit at a spot w a high shelf.
he talked to a prof in the physics dept of u of chicago, and brought him the model. my recollection is that the prof confirmed his hypotheses.
now, he didnt get as far as to see how hard it would be to build a seaworthy machine. his was a large bank of turbines, at least a dozen or more, dont recall that (i was 6)
so i have watched the evolution of the concept w great curiosity and a little pride.
this one seems brilliant. i can easily see scaling this up a lot more. hell, you could attach it to a damn cruise ship just as easily, i would think.
i have few reasons to be proud of him, so i do relish this one thing.
(also, a bit of personal redemption, sort of. i have a clear recollection of him making plaster molds for this model. one day there were a pair of them on the floor of our small family car. i clearly remember being the one that stepped on one and having it crack right down the middle. my sister was in the back seat w me, and she recently insisted that she was the one. i dunno. anyway, my mom told us to run, and run we did. she had to take the blowback. almost 60 years later my ears still heat up when i think about it.
so, yeah, some self interest in his project proving out, even tho somebody broke the cast.)
caraher
(6,276 posts)Yes, wave energy is a thing.
No, as others have pointed out, it has a 50 kW capacity, and 87 GW is not how much power this plant "at full capacity" will produce but the total wave energy striking Brazil's coast.
The tipoff not to take this at face value, for those not conversant with the units and the physics, is "unlimited energy."