KOLKATA: Till recently, the people of the Sundarbans archipelago in West Bengal had viewed the tidal waves flowing in from the Bay of Bengal as their source of misery. They feared the giant waves and cyclones which left a trail of destruction.

Even during other times, the salty marshlands of the world’s largest mangrove swamp left little scope for any significant economic activity. They had resigned themselves to an eternal cycle of living life on the edge.

But this may change in about two years, once the country’s first tidal energy project comes up. Tides then, will bring power to the 1.5 lakh people living in the 11 villages that lie scattered around the Durgaduani Creek in the Sundarbans.

The Union Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES) has recently sanctioned a 90 per cent grant for the Rs.48-crore project. The West Bengal government will meet the remaining cost of this project. The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) has been chosen the contractor for the project, which is being executed by the West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation, the corporate entity which has been formed by the West Bengal government to commercialise its renewable energy forays.

S. P. Gonchaudhuri, Managing Director of the corporation, told The Hindu that bids would be soon floated for sourcing equipment for the project, which would be completed by 2010. “The drawings and the designs are being done now,” he said, adding that the feasibility of the project has now been established. “Projects such as these have a high plant load factor and reliability,” he said.

The Sundarbans project will be a demonstrative project which may be replicated , although the Kutch and the Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat are the only two regions in the country where there is known potential of this form of green energy.

For the people living in the villages around the Durgaduani Creek, solar home lighting systems is the only form of electricity known, with the slightly better-off burning gallons of diesel to run polluting generator sets to draw power. Economic activity is restricted to running cold storages for fish (on ice imported from the mainland) and chilli processing. This is set to improve once the tidal power becomes available.

The changes that electricity can bring is evident in some of the other islands in the Sundarbans. From a sleepy marshland, many of the islands now hum with activity. Children need no longer study by carbon dioxide-spewing kerosene lamps and the villages need no longer end all their activities at sunset. Phone kiosks, small shops that have now come up in the areas draw electricity from various forms of renewable energy sources such as the sun, wind, biomass and biogas, which has been harnessed in several of the 53 islands. Mr. Gonchaudhuri says that an eight MW capacity has been created so far for 4.4 million people, who may never have had any access to electric power since they stay in remote areas where conventional power may never reach. Efforts are now on to bring an additional five million people under this coverage by 2012.

Source: Hindu.com 

A Christchurch company has been given the go ahead to install an underwater turbine off Wellington's south coast to generate electricity from the Cook Strait tides.

Greater Wellington Council has granted consent for a trial which is the first step in developing technology that Neptune Power believes could eventually satisfy a big part of the country's energy needs.

The trial turbine, just south of Sinclair Head, should be up and running within 18 months and will power 400 Wellington houses through Vector's Wellington grid.

David Beach from Neptune Power says the aim of the trial is to run the turbine in a real situation and establish its ecological impact.

The trial could eventually make tidal power a big player in the government's plan to have 90% of New Zealand's energy coming from renewable sources by 2025.

Source: One News 

CAMANO ISLAND -- The three teenagers sat on the edge of their orange rowboat, looking out over the sparkling waters of Saratoga Passage.

They saw more than the rising, falling waves, the glimmering sunlight and the choppiness of the water from the persistent maritime winds.

They saw energy.

Infinite, unbridled energy.

Now, Jimmy Besancon, Derek Britain and Christy Swartz -- a trio of 16-year-old science buffs from Stanwood High School -- are researching how to convert the natural powers of Saratoga Pass into usable energy.

"Our goal is to create a usable amount of energy, created just by the waves," Britain said.

Using an old rowboat that Besancon's father bought at a scrap yard 20 years ago, the teens built a barge with equipment to measure wave data, wind speeds and sunlight. A small solar panel on the front of the barge generates enough energy to power the onboard equipment, as well as operate a pump that keeps the old, leaky boat from filling with water.

A pair of small, metal pendulums on the barge's metal mast swing back and forth as winds and waves rock the boat. The pendulums are attached to small generators, creating power as they swing.

The teens concocted their idea nearly a year ago as they brainstormed project ideas on the back deck of Besancon's home, which overlooks Saratoga Passage. Swartz looked out over the water and realized the waves rose and fell like pendulums.

They have worked on several science projects since meeting each other in middle school, but nothing this ambitious.

"We sort of recognized there is a lot of potential energy in waves right in front of our house," Besancon said. "We wanted to find a way to harness that."

Assisted by Besancon's father, Frank, a science coach for area middle and high schools, the three friends built their barge. Earlier this year, they tied the barge to a buoy in Saratoga Passage and collected two months' worth of wind and wave data. The barge is equipped with a radio transmitter that transmits data to a computer in the Besancon home.

Their data showed that, unlike solar energy, wave energy can be harvested at a very consistent rate. Day or night, the waves always roll, and the pendulums swing at the same rate. Metal panels on the barge's mast also catch wind, helping the boat rock, which keeps the pendulums swinging.

"There's a whole lot more available energy that we're not harvesting, we know that for sure," Frank Besancon said.

The teens are also members of their high school's Science Olympiad, Hi-Q and Knowledge Bowl teams.

In late March, the teens took second place in the Washington State Intel Science and Engineering Fair with their work on the barge. They plan to enter another large science competition later this year, and by then they hope to be using their barge to harvest energy, possibly storing it in a battery.

Finishing strong in these competitions could help the students reap scholarship money for college, they said.

They hope their project has a bigger impact down the road.

"Generating energy is one of the greatest concerns today," Swartz said.


Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Source: Everett Washington Herald 

Greenbang must have been having a quick snooze when Rolls Royce was talking up its latest renewables investment this month. It’s still an interesting deal - not to mention a chance to fall back on some lazy ‘it’s the Rolls Royce of energy deals!’ puns - so Greenbang feels obliged to share it with you today.

Rolls has decided to take a 23.5 percent stake in TGL (or Tidal Generation Limited), a privately owned tidal energy firm, which it reckons will tie up nicely with its own efforts in the world of water energy. It’s not the first time Rolls has put its hand in its pocket for TGL: it’s already invested £1.5 million and some technical help in the company.

And it’s not alone: the UK government has also contributed some cash to help fund development.

So just what is it developing? A 500kW and 1MW demonstration model of its wave power electricity system, designed to operate in deep water - between 35 and 100 metres deep - without bothering shipping or wildlife. So now you know.

Source: Greenbang.com 

Senator Horvath mantains that Chile's extensive shoreline holds potential for the development of wave energy.
Lauren Andersen, The Santiago Times

National Renovation Party (RN) Senator Antonio Horvath on Monday called on President Michelle Bachelet to send a delegation to an upcoming renewable energy conference in Scotland in order to “guarantee  … all alternative energies have the same opportunity to be known” in Chile.

“Chile is a country with some of the greatest potential in the world to obtain clean energy through tide, channel, and wave motion,” Horvath said in a Senate press release.

Chile has set itself the goal of making 10 percent of its energy carbon-free and renewable by 2024, and with that mind, Horvath pointed out the need to “guarantee that, in line with the diversity of our country, all alternative energies have the same opportunity to participate in energy production.

“To that end, the Budget Law established a fund (for promoting such alternatives) and we want to assure that the Executive will also do everything it needs to in order to have a working scheme that small- and medium-sized businesses can be involved in.”

The conference, which will be held on May 21 and 22, will bring together a number of important Scottish and British government officials, as well as others from countries as far away as Japan, and 361 companies from 12 nations invested in developing renewable and alternative energy sources.

The conference gathers some of the most innovative companies from Britain, northern Europe, and North America working in the field of on- and offshore wind generation, carbon offsetting, carbon reduction, and wave and tidal energy.

Horvath has been a champion of renewable energies for some time. He represents the Aysén region, which is at the heart of Chile’s current environmental deliberations. He has spoken out against HidroAysén, a US$4 billion project to build dams on the two largest rivers in the area, the Baker and the Pascua. The two companies behind it, Colbún of Chile and Endesa of Spain, have lobbied strenuously to push the proposal through, arguing that the dams´ 2,400 megawatts of energy generation would meet 30 percent of Chile’s current energy needs (ST, Mar. 20, 2007 ).

Horvath is one of many who argue that the dams would devastate the unspoiled wilderness around the rivers. The dams would flood 58 square miles of forest, and a 1,240 km transmission line running north to Santiago would cut through miles of wilderness. Horvath has also advocated against turning to nuclear energy, instead promoting smaller and less destructive hydroelectric projects as well as wave and tidal energy solutions as Chile’s best alternatives (ST, Mar. 7, 2007 ; Mar. 20, 2007 ).

Source: Valparaiso Times