Wave power plant planned for west coast

Published: 7 Nov 09 13:00 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/23136/20091107/

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Plans to built the country's first wave power plant in the sea, northwest of Smögen on Sweden’s west coast, have been proposed by Uppsala-based company Seabased Industry.

An application has been submitted to the Environmental Court (Miljödomstolen) to build 420 wave power units and create the country’s first wave power park.

Earlier this year the company set up a factory in Lysekil in western Sweden, to produce wave power units and states that the plant could create around 100 jobs in total.

The proposal has been a year in the making and Jan Sundberg, head of environmental permissions at Seabased Industry, is hopeful that the court will give the plans the green light.

“Interest in wave power is huge both in Sweden and abroad and the project will run parallel with further research and development,” he told the Bohusläning newspaper.

The local council have shown positive support to the idea of new energy sources for the area but is also keen to include local fishermen in discussions.

“It is important that fishermen and the company are in agreement over the location of the plant,” Mats Abrahamsson, Bohuslän's council chief said.

The cost of building the plant is estimated at 250 million crowns and Seabased Industry is hoping to secure investment from the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten).

Energy produced from the plant could cover around 1,300 households in the local region.

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

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The comments below have not been moderated in advance and are not produced by The Local unless clearly stated. Readers are responsible for the content of their own comments. Comments that breach our terms and conditions will be removed.

13:31 November 7, 2009 by Nemesis
This is a brilliant idea.

This further diversifies Sweden's power production.

This also adds to Sweden's energy security, by futher reducing the need to rely on energy from outside Sweden and Europe.
13:42 November 7, 2009 by proteasome
Nice to have some more jobs show up but the basic idea might be doomed for failure. The worst environment for energy generating equipment. Incredible cost and time to replace and repair. All the equipment is one off and specialized. You can not easily scale up and keep costs down, you either have to have a million little generators that can take the stresses or you need massive expensive equipment that is not financial available. Otherwise great idea. Better idea is put a wind turbine on top of the rusty broken wave power plant.
15:17 November 7, 2009 by RadioBob
I do not think that there is nearly enough change in the tide at this latitude.
16:12 November 7, 2009 by warriorwithin
The logistics dont seem right. 250 million kr plant to power a thousand homes!!!!

i like proteasome's idea of puttting a wind turbine on top of the wave plant, may be it becomes a little more cost effective ,but still seems expensive
17:23 November 7, 2009 by Nemesis
I see more negative comments as usual by english speaking commentators.

The Swedish are very good engineers.

They are good scientists.

They are very good at taking an idea, designing it, improving it and then putting it into practise.

Swedish engineers, designers and scientists are very effective at working in teams.

Swedish nautical engineering is amongst the best in the world.

For some basic information on wave power I suggest you start here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_power

For some basic reading material I suggest reading these books on the subject.

Ocean Wave Energy: Current Status and Future Prespectives ISBN-10: 3540748946 ISBN-13: 978-3540748946

Ocean Wave Energy Conversion ISBN-10: 0486462455 ISBN-13: 978-0486462455

@ proteasome

Wrong.

You need to talk to an engineer who specialises in the area, before making a comment.

@ RadioBob

It is for wave power, not tidal power.

Reading the entire article, not just the headline is recommended before commenting.

@ warriorwithin

It is the first plant. They are always the most expensive. TFirst facilities are were all the problems are worked out. 25 million Euro for a first opeational plant, is actually a low price.
19:30 November 7, 2009 by karex
Great idea!

There will always be pessimists. The main objective is always the pessimism, never the idea, so it doesn't matter what the idea is - the reply will always be "It will never work".

Mankind is fortunate that it appears the great majority are not pessimists, otherwise we would still be in the stone age.

BTW, we do have the technology to build things that are suited to operate in all sorts of environments.
21:42 November 7, 2009 by entry
Seabased's Wave Energy Converter design -http://tinyurl.com/y9w8gwz

Seabased's Lysekil Pilot Wave Power Project -http://tinyurl.com/yhc6yey

Where Green solutions are cost competitive and make sense I can see no objections. Sadly sense and economics are not common topics in Green Solutions.

This solution looks interesting and has a certain appeal to me. I would like to know more of the projects merits.
23:55 November 7, 2009 by karex
Most green solutions are extremely new technologies, meaning, expensive. The more they are applied, the more cost effective they become.

This is not just true of green solutions, it applies to everything. How much did the plasma TV cost when it first came out and how much does it cost now?

Therefore, in order for the average person to be able to afford it, it is good that for certain things governments are willing to buy first. This means the costs will come down even faster than the run-of-the-mill consumer goods.
00:46 November 8, 2009 by entry
No EU/UN panel or government legislation forced consumers to purchase the more expensive and proven technology of plasma TVs. There is quite a difference.
08:56 November 8, 2009 by Makaveli
The Local, you guys are doing a great job, but i would expect at least correct spellings in your articles. Seems to me like some of these news articles are hastily edited and published with some very reckless spelling and grammar errors.
10:44 November 8, 2009 by Nemesis
@ Entry,

Wrong.

The United Nations does not make law.

The large screen HD panel was actually developed with funding from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). That was ordered by Ronald Reagan after he saw a Japanese technology demonstration.

So according to your logic, the large screen HD panel is a government conspiracy. You really need to think before making a comment.

Regarding wave power.

Wave power is only now coming out of the research phase and into the engineering phase. That phase in its development will require government money. The same applies to every start up program, including those in the United States of American, unless you are suggesting that only the USA be allowed to seed fund start up technology programs.

This wave power program is a technology demonstrator. In this program a lot of problems associated with wave power will be researched, defined, solved and the technology improved.

It is not a conspiracy, unless of course you think it is a conspiracy that Sweden is reducing its reliance on outside sources of energy, such as an ally of the USA, such as Saudi Arabia.

Diversification of energy supplies, increases energy security.

It will also help Sweden possibly gain a lead in this new area of technology.

Sweden is a world class technology leader. Hopefully Sweden can become a technological leader in the area of wave power.
13:05 November 8, 2009 by Streja
The waters in these areas are very dangerous some times and there are a lot of waves and power that can be used. I am from this part of Sweden so I know it' s a good idea.
20:15 November 8, 2009 by entry
"by Nemesis

The United Nations does not make law."

The UN has not yet been granted sovereignty over member states at this time. Instead, the UN has been tirelessly working to secure treaties and binding agreements which would require(force) member states to reduce C02. C02, which in computer models is a forcing in atmospheric warming, but as stated in IPCC AR4 section 8.6 has yet to be demonstrated or it's effects tested in the real world. So the UN does not directly make laws however it's policies and activities have had an effect on Sweden's policies and legislation.

"by Nemesis

The large screen HD panel was actually developed with funding from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)…ordered by Ronald Reagan …large screen HD panel is a government conspiracy."

Putting aside your conspiracy theories and getting back to the issue, Sweden and other industrial countries are mandating the use of fledgling non-competitive technologies at huge costs to the consumer. This is a completely different dynamic than the market driven advancements in consumer electronics. Sweden's electricity production since 1990, has been almost independent of coal & oil(NEI Graph-http://tinyurl.com/yacwgmn ). Sweden may or may not additionally benefit from the direct consumption of wave generated electricity. The technology may in the future mature and demonstrate itself to be a competitive energy solution, which would make it a great export product.

It seems unfair to me to burden local consumers with increased electricity costs due to this current wave project.

"by Nemesis

Wave power is only now coming out of the research phase and into the engineering phase. That phase in its development will require government money… the United States of American, unless you are suggesting that only the USA be allowed to seed fund start up technology programs."

Nemesis, this is TheLocal.se, Sweden's News in English, can you temper down your fixation with the United States? Please try to focus yourself on Sweden.

Although, I am aware that this particular wave project by Seaside Industries has government funding aspects that really hasn't concerned me. I am more interested in the technology.

"by Nemesis

This wave power program is a technology demonstrator. In this program a lot of problems associated with wave power will be researched, defined, solved and the technology improved."

As I stated in my first reply, I am very interested in the current Seaside wave project. I am also interested in the various tidal projects underway elsewhere and am endeavoring to learn more.

"by Nemesis

It will also help Sweden possibly gain a lead in this new area of technology.

Sweden is a world class technology leader. Hopefully Sweden can become a technological leader in the area of wave power."

Should wave power prove to be a workable and competitive solution I would want Sweden to be a leading exporter of this technology.
22:18 November 8, 2009 by Nemesis
@ entry

Interesting how you edited my comments, by selective deletion, to give them a different meaning.
22:37 November 8, 2009 by entry
@ nemesis

Conspiracies imagined or fabricated by you and injected into the dialog are yours to own regardless of whether you hold them yourself or falsely suggest they are held by myself. I do understand you were being flippant when you suggested your conspiracy theory.
00:10 November 9, 2009 by JoeSwede
Sounds like a wonderful idea.
22:51 November 9, 2009 by Nemesis
@ entry.

I have re-read your inital comments.

I may have jumped the gun with you, for that I apologise.

Maybe we can get back to positive dialogue.

I also support Sweden in this. I have started to defend Sweden against unjust attacks a lot recently and may have got carried away.

Regarding market distortion.

To bring this online will require market distortion initially. It is basically a technology demonstrator, in whish they intend to iron out the problems before casting it onto the open market.

The idea is to protect it in infancy, let it mature and then release it into the wilds of the markets.

I can give you good ISBN numbers for further reading on the technology if you wish.
08:19 November 10, 2009 by entry
@ Nemisis

We seem to be on the same page with regards to this topic. Thanks for the ISBNs. I had already looked up the two wave power books that you have recommended in one of your earlier replies. Amazon.co.uk wants 843.61Kr before shipping for the first book but less then 200Kr for the second book. I have checked online with my local library but no joy there. I will check with the librarian when I get the chance and see if they can pull them from Gothenburg for me.

If you have other recommendations for reading let me know. Wave power shows potential.

Nemisis, what are you thoughts on what happened in Portugal and how does that reflect on the Scotland wave power project?
13:58 November 13, 2009 by entry
@ Nemesis

Made it to the library today. They told me that "Ocean Wave Energy: Current Status and Future Prespectives" was carried by three libraries in Sweden and that I should have a copy in a week or two. I didn't fair as well with McCormick's Ocean Wave Energy Conversion. It seems that they couldn't find the ISBN for the current book but did have a release from 1981. I told them to forget that one, and I will come back again after checking the ISBN at home.

In the mean time I have plenty to read. Vattenfall is doing quite a bit with wave power and had quite a few PDFs available. Over the weekend I plan on looking at what happened to the wave project in Portugal and take a look at the Scotland wave power project. Not sure if you had noticed my previous post and missed my query regarding your familiarity with the situation.
06:31 December 1, 2009 by MikeSar
It is good to explore all possibilities. Some people thought airplanes would never fly...

However, my bet is on the Danish technology with windmills over the water, shallow water.

MIT in the USA, is building barge-mounted wind mills that would be anchor far enough from shore to be unseen and unheard. This may, in time, provide most of the power in coastal cities.

The Ultimate will be when the "free Wind electricity" is used to produce Hydrogen at a competitive price to power busses, trains, etc.

Maybe, even, electric powerplants? We shall see.

Scandinavia will show us the way to future energy that is clean and green.

The new technology to be explained to the world in Denmark is the use of Wind power with the batteries in tens of thousand cars used to store the power, whenever it is available, and the power supplied by the car batteries during the Peak Energy needs, around noon time.

This means commuter cars would be connected all the time while the commuter is at work.

Of course, the work centers will be a key part in this project. The Danes did it Again!
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