RIASSUNTO
ABSTRACT:
The international focus for development of wave and tidal energy technologies has been principally on large-scale (MW) devices and grid-connected utility-scale arrays. However, the Pacific Islands present many opportunities for smaller-scale (kW) stand-alone developments. Potential sites for deployment can be identified based upon island populations and evaluation of resources at specific sites.
INTRODUCTION
The Pacific Islands offer potential sites for marine energy project developments, which will differ in scale and scope from projects currently active elsewhere in the world. The Pacific region offers the potential for wave, tidal current and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). This paper focuses on the potential and characteristics for wave energy conversion projects. Pacific Island projects are likely to be smaller, may be stand-alone (as opposed to grid-connected) and may require fewer wave energy converters and/or units of smaller capacity. Key drivers for successful projects will be device efficiency (waveto- wire) and economies of scale. Presently isolated island communities must pay very high unit prices for electricity from other forms of electricity generation, particularly stand-alone diesel generation. In part these high prices arise because of the requirement to convert the wave energy to electricity through a series of processes with attendant losses at each energy conversion stage. Greater efficiency may be achieved by using wave power for other purposes, in which there are fewer conversions of energy and thus fewer systemic losses. This arises in part because there are number of different forms of ocean energy (wave, tidal range, tidal and ocean current, ocean thermal energy conversion and osmotic power. Depending on classification there are between three and seven different generic ways of extracting power from waves (Falcão, 2009; EMEC, 2011). It is difficult to quantify the number of devices actively under development but it must exceed 60 different wave device designs.