PG&E suspends wave-energy project off coast

[XemaSab]

Long-running efforts to tap the ocean's immense energy as a power source have suffered another setback.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has suspended its WaveConnect project off the Humboldt County coast. The project would have used buoys bobbing in the Pacific to generate electricity.

PG&E, based in San Francisco, planned the Humboldt project as a way to test different wave-power devices. But the cost of securing government permits, installing the devices and putting in place the infrastructure needed to bring their power to shore made the project untenable, said company spokesman Brian Swanson.

"The big factor was this was new and unproven technology," he said. "We're still committed to wave energy, and we'll still look for opportunities along the California coast, including Humboldt."



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/01/BUIJ1G54CH.DTL#ixzz146enM0MK

[sakabatou]

1. *facepalm*

[RandySF]

2. They want to stick with "proven technologies"

Like natural gas pipelines.

[TheMadMonk]

3. Like it or lump it, they are a for profit utility provider. They do need something...

...demonstrably workable to take to the shareholders.

And the unfortunate truth is that so far the sea has proven far stronger than any harness we've managed to briefly strap on it.

As the various solar technologies proved themselves, the utilities in fact began adopting them a little ahead of the price curve and are now going hammer and tongs installing more and more capacity in some parts of the world.

[hunter]

4. Good.

There's plenty enough human crap in the oceans already.