Wave Power Setbacks in California

greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com
August 12, 2009

Stroll through San Francisco and you can't miss Pacific Gas and Electric's latest ad campaign. Posters plastered around town read: "Wave Power: Bad for sandcastles. Good for you." But P.G.& E, recently dropped one of its two 40-MW wave-farm projects planned for the Northern California coast, according to documents filed with the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission.

"During the past year, P.G.& E, undertook agency consultation and public outreach and commenced an examination of the technical and environmental feasibility of the proposed project," Annette Faraglia, an attorney for the utility, wrote in a June 9 letter to the commission. "Based on the results of this examination, P.G.& E, has concluded that the harbor at Fort Bragg, Noyo Harbor, is not suitable for certain aspects of the project."

In 2007, the utility had applied for federal permits to explore the feasibility of placing wave energy generators in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Humboldt and Mendocino counties. The scuttling of the Mendocino project is just the latest setback for wave power. Last year, California regulators also declined to approve a P.G.& E, contract to buy a small amount of electricity from a Northern California wave farm to be built by Finavera Renewables, on the grounds the project was not viable.

Despite the difficulties, P.G.& E, is pushing forward with a similar wave project in Humboldt county. The utility has cut that project's size to 18 square miles from 136 square miles as it zeroes in on the most productive areas of the ocean. Jana Morris, a P.G.& E, spokeswoman, said that the utility expects to file a draft pilot license application for the project in the spring of 2010.

However, the National Marine Fisheries Service has identified a plethora of protected species that may be affected by the Humboldt project, ranging from endangered coho salmon to the northern elephant seal and the long-beaked common dolphin.

Ms. Morris said that local opposition to wave energy projects did not influence the utility's decision to halt its Mendocino project. But a different proposed wave project in Mendocino, a 100-MW farm to be developed by a company called GreenWave Energy Solutions, has drawn opposition from residents, environmentalists and fishing organizations concerned about its impact on the coast.