If the journey from fossil fuel energy to carbon-free renewable sources like sun and wind was a trip from London to New York, we’d only have made it as far as Limerick, Ireland. After decades of subsidies and development, only 10% of the power on the world’s grids comes from variable renewable energy (VRE) sources such as sun and wind, compared to more than 60% from fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. (The other 30% is nuclear and dispatchables like biofuel and hydro.) Countries like Denmark and South Australia have nearly 50% VRE on the grid. But they’re the exception.
To meet our renewables targets, we’ve got the whole Atlantic ocean to cross.
The journey to carbon-free variable renewable energy
A big reason we’ve not gotten further with the green transition is intermittency.
Sun and wind can produce a lot of power at some points and completely stop at others. That doesn’t work well for grid operators who must always be able to provide a baseload of power—enough electricity to meet normal demand. That’s why they hang on to the power sources they know will be there: coal, oil, and gas; power sources they can dispatch on demand. Many add VRE when they can afford to, but so far it’s not a lot. Government subsidies have encouraged grid operators and utility companies to make room for sun and wind, which has made their development possible. In some parts of the world, these subsidies are now set to expire.
Getting to Net 0 by 2050
Scientists and engineers around the world are working to solve the problem by, among other things:
Using battery storage to capture the power created by sun and wind and release it over time.
Improving the grid so it can handle the intermittency better.
Using dispatchables like biofuel and hydrogen (so named because you can “dispatch” them as you need, unlike solar and wind).
Every one of these options is being implemented, but they all have complications. For example, battery storage is often seen as the obvious solution. But it faces a multitude of problems. One of these is that battery technology today is almost entirely focused on lithium-ion batteries that utilize Cobalt, a metal mostly found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is infamous for human rights violations. Cobalt is often mined by children as young as seven. Cobalt can also be mined or collected from the seabed by drilling or pulling up the top layer from the sea floor. Research shows that such actions have profound environmental impacts; and the oceans are already in trouble. Alternatives to Cobalt are under research but none has replaced the industry standard yet.
Nearly every technology humans use to generate power has some environmental and/or social impact. The goal needs to be to create the most power with as little negative impact on the Earth as possible.
Wave energy can be a big piece of that solution.
Wave energy is a core piece of the puzzle
Wave energy is relatively stable, operating 24/7, 365 days a year. Wave power could, theoretically, produce more than 100% of the current electrical consumption. The ocean covers 70% of the earth’s surface, is available to large populations, and is highly reliable and predictable. Grid operators can know from 5-to-14 days in advance how much wave energy they will have to contribute to the baseload. By combining the reliability of wave with solar and wind, grid operators can substantially boost the amount of VREs on the grid without risking interruptions.
Wave energy has been advancing toward commercialization, despite not having the broad public support that enabled wind and solar to become established. Yet its viability does not yet seem to be understood. One study published in March 2021, for example, confirmed the value of wave energy to increase the amount of VREs on the grid, but seemed to rely on old data about whether wave energy companies could provide a kind of electricity that can be integrated into the grid. (One cited reference was from 2010; 11 years is a long time in the technology world.) Currently Seabased is in the process of fine-tuning our electrical system which does, in fact, convert the energy from many generators, channeling many waves, into a uniform stream of electricity calibrated for the grid.
Creating a new energy industry is expensive. Doing so when the equipment must be installed and tested in the ocean presents many difficulties not faced by those installing energy plants on land. The resulting carbon-free power will be more than worth the effort, but wave energy needs the kind of support in terms of incentives and subsidies solar and wind had to get us closer to Net 0. This fact was officially recognized in December 2020 when the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) signed a memorandum of understanding with Ocean Energy Europe(OEE) to partner in the push for regulation and incentives that would support ocean energy. Francesco de la Camera, IRENA’s Director General said in a statement:
“Renewable energy from oceans has the potential to meet four times the global electricity demand of today, foster a blue economy, and bring socio-economic benefits to some of the most vulnerable areas to climate change such as Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and coastal areas. Close cooperation with OEE in platforms like IRENA’s Collaborative Framework and Coalition for Action is absolutely vital to share knowledge with industry to ensure a widespread deployment of ocean and offshore renewables in the future.”
Seabased’s solution
Seabased’s technology is easy to scale is optimized for medium waves of only 1-to-3 meters. In addition to being capable of providing ample power in many markets, Seabased has designed its technology to be gentle on the environment. We do not drill into the seabed or disrupt it, we just place our generators on the seabed with gravity bases. There are no moving parts that pose a risk to sea life; no toxins or emissions. Our power parks have even been shown to become artificial reefs in some environments, increasing biodiversity.
Around the world, countries are recognizing it’s time to accelerate the energy transition. Wave energy, an abundant and perpetual resource around the world, could be a powerful catalyst.
International Renewable Energy Association: https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/global-share-of-electricity-generation-2019