Oregon Public Broadcasting

An alternative energy company is celebrating what it calls a milestone in wave energy.  It successfully deployed a test buoy off the central Oregon Coast.

If the trial goes well, electric generating buoys could be next anchored off the northwest tip of Washington State.  Correspondent Tom Banse has more. 

Finavera wave energy test buoy floats offshore of Newport, OR.

Sound: [water splashing from video] Vancouver, Canada based Finavera Renewables has moved a step closer to its goal of generating commercial electricity from ocean waves by 2010.  A YouTube video shows a tall bright yellow test buoy riding the swells about two miles offshore of Newport, Oregon. Sound: [Shipboard observers: “It’s working, it’s working!”]

Finavera vice president Kevin Banister says the buoy is already collecting data about the generating potential of an onboard turbine powered by the rise and fall of the waves.   Kevin Banister: “It’s a milestone certainly as people look at our company and the industry.  They want to see devices in the water and see them performing.  That’s what we expect to see from this installation.”Later this month, Oregon State University plans to deploy a second test buoy off Newport to try out a more compact design for harnessing wave energy.   

On the Web: Finavera Renewables