Physical Oceanography

Class Presentation
An Introduction to

Ocean Renewable
Energies
Presented by

S. Aboozar Tabatabai
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences
November 2010

Introduction
Energy
Present and Future

Federal Agency for Science and Innovation, 2008, Moscow, Russia

U.S. Energy Information Administration , International Energy Outlook 2010

Oil Price: light,

sweet crude 2008
($/barrel)

U.S. Energy Information Administration , International Energy Outlook 2010

World primary
energy
consumption
(quadrillion Btu)

Are we behind?!

2009 Annual Report, Ocean Energy Systems Implementing Agreement (OES-IA)

Member countries in Ocean

Energy Systems Implementing
Agreement

Internationally, the number of

developed ocean energy
technologies more than doubled
from 2003 (35) to 2006 (81).
However, the federal government
only acknowledged ocean
renewables in the Energy Policy

International Energy Agency, Policy Report, 2006

Silver Medal?... Is that the best we

got?!

Good News !
Ocean renewable energies have begun to
capture
the attention of US lawmakers
More investments
Some more courses and programs in
universities
tax credits
. . . Way to go!
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Why Ocean?
The ocean is the world's largest solar collector
and can provide huge amount of energy
(kinetic and thermal) which is absolutely clean
(zero CO2 emission), sustainable, strategic,
and predictable.
Changes in salinity, thermal gradients, tidal
sea level change and currents, or ocean
waves can be used to generate electricity.
The number of ocean energy technology
concepts has increased to +100 known
devices.
Available global Ocean Energy resource is in
the same order of magnitude of the present
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electricity production worldwide (even more!).

Table compiled from International Energy Agency, Policy Report, 2006

(Conventional) Tidal Energy

Technologies for harnessing energy from tides by building barrage

across estuary are well developed, but this type of conversion
process could have significant impact on local ecosystem.
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Worlds largest tidal

power plant in the
Rance estuary near St
Malo, France

Peak rating of 240

Megawatts,
generated by 24
turbines
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Sihwa, South Korea

Under Construction

It will be the worlds largest tidal power plant with a

total power of 260 MW and an annual power
generation of 543 GWh.

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Tidal Current Energy

Significant number of technologies for harnessing energy from tidal current

are being developed worldwide. Some of them are at or near full-scale
development and undergoing sea trials.

SeaGen
13

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Rotech Tidal Turbine (RTT)

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Wave Energy

OWC

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Other wave Devices

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CETO

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Salinity Gradient Energy

The world's first osmotic plant

with capacity of 4 kW was opened
by Statkraft on 24 November
2009 in Tofte, Norway
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Ocean Thermal Energy

Conversion (OTEC)

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Open-cycle OTEC

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Thank you for your

attention.

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