West Coast Awash in Wave Power Proposals, But Progress Is Slow

A wave of interest in tidal and ocean power is building in cities and boardrooms along the West Coast.

Just last week, San Francisco and Australian energy company BioPower Systems announced plans to study the feasibility of an ocean energy project five miles off the city’s coast. Leaders of the proposed Oceanside Wave Energy Project say it could provide as much as 100 MW to the city’s power grid by 2012.

Closer to shore, city officials and energy companies have been exploring potential tidal power sites in San Francisco Bay, hoping to harness the powerful currents that run beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

A preliminary permit for the San Francisco Bay Tidal Energy Project — the largest proposed project of its kind off the California coast, with a potential generating capacity of 10-30 MW — is currently pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). If granted, the three-year permit would allow Golden Gate Energy Company first-priority access to conduct feasibility research on the designated site in the Bay.

The two projects are among several dozen proposed to capture tidal and ocean wave energy up and down the West Coast, including sites in Alaska, Washington and Oregon. New hydrokinetic projects have also popped up inland along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, said FERC spokesperson Celeste Miller.

The influx of permit applications for ocean and tidal projects is a recent phenomenon.

“Up until several years ago, when we started getting applications for projects down near Florida and along the Mississippi River, we didn’t have any applications for this type of project," Miller said. "We’ve started to modify our permit process to accommodate this new technology.”

For the City by the Bay, several major issues have yet to be resolved before tidal and ocean wave projects can start bringing real power to San Francisco shores. In fact, no tidal and wave projects proposed for the West Coast have advanced beyond the research stage.

Tidal Turf Wars

First, there’s the turf war between public and private ownership of emerging projects. San Francisco has had its eye on energy prospects for the waters under the Golden Gate since at least 2006, when the city’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) undertook a study along with the Electric Power Research Institute, concluding that the waters under the Golden Gate provide ideal conditions for a tidal power project. The same month, the PUC said it would invest $150,000 to further research the bay’s tidal power possibilities.

Soon afterward, private developers started jumping on board. In 2007, Pacific Gas & Electric signed an agreement to collaborate with the city and county of San Francisco to study the potential for tidal power projects in the bay. PG&E pledged $1.5 million — with another $346,000 promised by the city — to fund feasibility research.

Though San Francisco public officials like Mayor Gavin Newsom have shown consistent support for tidal and ocean energy projects, they have also taken part in a tense debate over whether the projects should be led by public or private actors.

In 2006, Newsom dismissed developers like Golden Gate Energy Company, saying that the city had “never taken them seriously” as contenders in the race to bring tidal power into operation.

Other city representatives, like district supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, have also been vocal about San Francisco’s right to control tidal development. Mirkarimi introduced legislation in 2007 attempting to mandate public ownership of any city-funded tidal power projects in the area.