The Future of Marine Technologies: Technology developments, key costs and the future outlook

Published by	Business Insights
Published	January, 2010	Product code	114245
Content info	146 pages
Price	US $ 2875 PDF by E-mail (Single User License) US $ 10781 PDF by E-mail (Global Site License)

Introduction
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The Future of Marine Technologies: Technology developments, key costs and the future outlook published by Business Insights in January, 2010. This report consists of 146 pages and the price starts from US $ 2875.

Introduction

Abstract

Many of the world' s potential renewable energy resources are being exploited today to generate electricity. The main exception is marine energy, the energy contained in various forms in the world' s seas and oceans. This situation looks set to change as the challenge of combating global warming inspires a renewed search for methods to extract marine energy from our seas. Wave power and systems that can exploit the movement of water generated by the tides are attracting the most attention but methods for using the warm seas in the tropics to produce electricity and even the attempts to extract energy released when salt and fresh water mix are now coming under the gaze of scientists and technicians too. Some of the resulting technologies remain far from commercial implementation but several are now close to commercialization. With all but tidal barrage power plants still in an early stage of development and no commercial plants of any other type in operation, assessing the economics of marine power generation technologies today depends on projections based on early prototypes of early demonstration units. Today these are generally more costly than alternative forms of power generation, both conventional and renewable. However the example of the wind power market shows that costs can fall dramatically as both technology improves and economies of scale are realized. Some early predictions suggest that some marine technologies might be cheaper than wind power but the level of uncertainty in such predictions is high. The energy contained within the marine environment is vast and if it could be exploited economically to generate electric power the rewards could be equally large. The five types of technology considered in this report are all potentially capable of tapping the resource, each in a different way. Today only one of these is capable of being considered as a commercial proposition but over the next five to ten years others among them should be able to prove themselves. Interest in these technologies is widespread but the greatest activity is found today in the UK and Europe. There is an increasing level of activity in North America too, particularly in the US who' s west coast offers some good marine potential. Elsewhere activity is generally at a lower level. Commercial opportunities are likely to develop rapidly over the second decade of the century.

Executive summary

Introduction
Ocean energy resources
Ocean thermal energy conversion
Wave power generation
Tidal stream technologies
Tidal barrage power plants
Salinity gradient power generation
The economics of marine power generation
The prospects for marine power generation technologies

Chapter 1 Introduction

Summary
Marine energy resources
Energy capture technologies
The structure of the report

Chapter 2 Ocean energy resources

Introduction
Global resource levels
Wave energy
Tidal power
Thermal gradient
Salinity gradient
Mapping marine resources

Chapter 3 Ocean thermal energy conversion

Introduction
Background
Heat engine efficiency
OTEC configurations
Open cycle OTEC
OTEC projects
Major challenges and developments
Environmental considerations
Economics

Chapter 4 Wave power generation

Introduction
History of wave energy capture
Types of wave energy capture device
Shore line and near shore devices
Oscillating water columns
Tapered channels and overtopping devices
Oscillating flaps
Offshore wave energy converters
Floats, wave pumps and swings
Snakes, ducks and pontoons
Piezo-electric converters
Intermittency and wave energy
Wave energy pilot projects
Environmental impact
Economics

Chapter 5 Tidal stream technologies

Introduction
Tidal stream energy
Tidal stream technology
Horizontal axis tidal stream turbines
Vertical axis tidal stream turbines
Cross flow turbines
Hydrofoils
Other tidal current systems
Tidal stream pilot projects
Environmental considerations
The economics of tidal stream power generation

Chapter 6 Tidal barrage power plants

Introduction
Tidal barrage principles
Bunded reservoirs and tidal lagoons
Tidal turbines
Tidal barrages
Seawater pumped storage
Tidal barrage projects
Environmental considerations
The economics of tidal barrages

Chapter 7 Salinity gradient power generation

Introduction
Extracting power from a salinity gradient
Osmotic power
Vapor compression
Hydrocratic generation
Reversed electrodialysis
Environmental considerations
Costs

Chapter 8 The economics of marine power generation

Introduction
Comparisons with wind energy
Installed cost of marine technologies
Cost of electricity from marine power generation technologies

Chapter 9 The prospects for marine power generation technologies

Introduction
Comparative costs of power generation
Wave and tidal stream power
Tidal barrage power plants
Ocean thermal energy technology
Salinity gradient power generation
Conclusions
Index

List of Figures

Figure 2.1: Ocean energy resources, (TWh/y)
Figure 2.2: Ocean energy potential generating capacity, (GW)
Figure 2.3: US wave energy potential, (TWh/y)
Figure 2.4: US tidal current potential, (TWh/y)
Figure 3.5: Theoretical OTEC efficiencies
Figure 3.6: Life cycle carbon dioxide emissions from OTEC plants
Figure 3.7: Costs for a 100MW floating OTEC plant
Figure 4.8: Annual wave energy content for different regions, (kW/m)
Figure 4.9: Estimated installation costs for wave energy converters
Figure 4.10: Estimated cost of electricity from wave energy plants
Figure 5.11: Tidal current turbine size required to sweep out a power density of 1MW at different current speeds
Figure 5.12: Water current power swept out by a 10m diameter turbine at different current speeds
Figure 5.13: Estimated installed cost ($/kW) of tidal stream generation in North America
Figure 6.14: Tidal reach at best global sites, (m)
Figure 6.15: Global tidal sites with largest energy potential
Figure 8.16: Cost estimates for generation in the UK (£/kW)
Figure 9.17: Comparative installed cost of generating technologies (£/kW), UK
Figure 9.18: Cost of electricity from competing technologies (£/MWh), UK
Figure 9.19: Levelized cost of electricity from competing technologies ($/MWh), California
Figure 9.20: Island states with potential OTEC

List of Tables

Table 2.1: Ocean energy resources, (TWh/y)
Table 2.2: Ocean energy potential generating capacity, (GW)
Table 2.3: US wave energy potential, (TWh/y)
Table 2.4: US tidal current potential, (TWh/y)
Table 3.5: Theoretical OTEC efficiencies
Table 3.6: OTEC plant configurations
Table 3.7: Life cycle carbon dioxide emissions from OTEC plants
Table 3.8: Costs for a 100MW floating OTEC plant
Table 4.9: Annual wave energy content for different regions, (kW/m)
Table 4.10: Types of wave energy converter
Table 4.11: Estimated installation costs for wave energy converters
Table 4.12: Estimated cost of electricity from wave energy plants
Table 5.13: Tidal current turbine size required to sweep out a power density of 1MW at different current speeds
Table 5.14: Water current power swept out by a 10m diameter turbine at different current speeds
Table 5.15: Types of tidal stream power generation devices
Table 5.16: Cost estimates for tidal stream power generation
Table 5.17: Economics of tidal stream generation in North America
Table 6.18: Tidal reach at best global sites, (m)
Table 6.19: Global tidal sites with largest energy potential
Table 6.20: Major tidal barrage power plants
Table 7.21: Types of salinity gradient power generation
Table 8.22: Marine power generation costs
Table 8.23: Cost estimates for generation in the UK
Table 9.24: Comparative installed cost of generating technologies (£/kW), UK
Table 9.25: Cost of electricity from competing technologies (£/MWh), UK
Table 9.26: Levelized cost of electricity from competing technologies ($/MWh), California
Table 9.27: European growth prospects for wave and tidal stream technologies
Table 9.28: Island states with potential OTEC