California Coast & Ocean

FERC's assertion of authority helped to catalyze the recent "gold rush" (as did EPRI's assessment of wave power's potential), but as long as that authority is not fully established, investors are likely to hesitate. "Uncertainty of regulation is a bane of industry," said Fujita. While the jurisdictional issue is being settled, however, EDF and others see an opportunity to shape standards.

"We do have a chance to get it right this time," Fujita said. "It has not reached the point where it's hard to regulate. We have a tendency to wait until there is a crisis--as happened with commercial fishing, for instance."

EDF has organized a group, which includes leading participants in the ocean renewable energy and hydropower industries and conservation organizations, to explore opportunities and challenges presented by ocean renewable energy. They agreed on a set of principles, and on September 9 this year published a draft "Shared Vision and Call to Action."

The approach the group favors is based on performance standards and a strong regulatory framework, rather than a prescriptive approach, which relies on trying to predict impacts and then specifying technology based on expectations. "Better to say what we want--for example, we don't want to grind up fish--and let industry work it out," Fujita said.

"Ocean energy, which is created by the effect of the sun, wind, and spin of the Earth, holds great promise for reducing worldwide fossil fuel use, an essential step in defending the oceans from climate change-driven environmental damage," declares the draft vision statement. "It is an elegant symmetry that power drawn from waves and tides could actually help ensure the health of the oceans themselves. Moreover, it is far more palatable to draw renewable power from the oceans than to extract more oil from them, as is currently being proposed."

Exploring the Unknown
Although wave-generated power may be one of the most benign ways of producing energy, these projects are expected eventually to be large-scale, with as yet unknown impacts on ocean processes, marine life, fisheries, and the shore. At a workshop at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center in October 2007, scientists identified some key issues requiring study. These include the emission of electromagnetic fields that can affect fish and other sea creatures that use the earth's electromagnetic field to navigate, alteration of coastal currents and offshore sand movement, and the possibility that sea turtles, marine mammals, and other ocean creatures might become entangled in lines and cables. Also suggested was the possibility that the installations, if large enough, could affect migration corridors for salmon, crabs, sturgeon, whales, and other creatures. Lighting on the structures could affect seabirds. A report published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this fall detailing the workshop findings recommended that installations should not be placed in sensitive areas, including anywhere near to shore at a depth of less than 40 meters. (See http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/waveenergy/.)

"We may change things in the ocean we can't predict," said Richard Charter, a Bodega Bay resident and consultant with Defenders of Wildlife who has been involved with offshore issues for 30 years. "The upwelling that occurs between Fort Bragg and Point Arena is incredibly productive, one of only a few such places in the world's oceans. That is a global resource. You might not want to pick one of the world's top four upwelling spots to put a wave array in."

"It's a really exciting new technology, with a lot of potential upsides," said Pete Stauffer, Oregon policy coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation, but "there are likely to be significant impacts, at the local scale, to the nearshore environment." Surfrider members are interested in seeing these projects proceed, Stauffer said, but in the right way, with "good environmental assessments, siting away from sensitive areas, and monitoring." Surfrider members also worry that wave power installations could diminish surfing waves and interfere with other recreational uses.

Many conservationists support scaling the projects up over time, to incorporate what is learned from monitoring. By adopting this adaptive management approach, installations can be modified as they grow, and even shut down if they prove to be too harmful.