海洋能：将夏威夷花了一大笔钱？

而在美国大陆的旱鸭子拥抱阳光或风力作为清洁，可再生能源的潜在来源，不一定是为企业和社区的岛屿，如夏威夷具有有限的土壤结合房地产一个可扩展的选项。

That’s just one reason this state is a mecca for a growing number of experimental offshore power projects, a topic that will be debated next week during an expert panel at the upcomingVERGE夏威夷在檀香山。

一个nother big motivation: Hawaiian citizens are still heavily dependent on oil, which was responsible for about 68 percent of the state’s electricity as recently as 2014, according to state data. The state is giving itself just shy of 30 years to eliminate that dependence, aiming to源100％的的由2045其从可再生产生源的电力。

但它怎么会到那里？这将需要远远不止太阳能或地热或淡水水电，所有这些都有助于夏威夷的可再生能源混合了。周围的海洋拥有很多承诺，但许多相关的生成方法是从商业上的可行性年 - 如涡轮机harness tidal power或浮标是线束wave energy.

The short term focus on two very different options for generating electricity using the Pacific Ocean surrounding the Hawaiian islands: floating wind farms and ocean thermal energy conversion, according to several experts who will speak at VERGE Hawaii next week.

"As a former energy administrator, I’ve seen dozens of projects and [offshore floating wind] is the lowest impact," said Ted Peck, director of community and government affairs, and lead developer for Progression Energy.

Mind you, he has a vested interest in saying so: His company is one of two organizations, along with A.W. Hawaii Wind, that are proposingfloating wind farmsoff the beaches of Oahu — together, the projects could serve around 30 percent of the island’s energy needs, according to local estimates.

浮动的想法

Progression’s proposal is for a 400-megawatt farm off the southern shore of Oahu. The project would install between 40 and 50, 600-foot tall WindFloat turbines that are tethered to the ocean floor in water roughly a half-mile deep. That’s pretty far out, so you couldn’t call this a nearshore solution, but the turbines are likely to be visible from land on the horizon. The electricity would be distributed back to land via submarine cables.

Windfloat’s technology is already being used in places such as Portugal. Still, floating turbines are a largely unproven technology. About 40 floating wind farms are under way around the world. Japan has been running a demonstration since 2013, the Fukushima Forward initiative. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that the wind off the entire U.S. coastline are capable of generating up to 4,223 gigawatts of power, which is more than the country uses today. Hawaii’s shores account for 17 percent of that potential.

了解更多关于在夏威夷的大清洁能源目标VERGE夏威夷亚太清洁能源峰会6月21-23日在檀香山。

Peck’s team has discussed the pros and cons at well over 100 meetings with hotel industry groups, environmental groups over the past four years. Progression faces a long list of obstacles, including winning over the support of the native Hawaiian community, consulting with marine biologists and ornithologists worried about the impact on whales and birds, and assuaging local tourism boards that the technology won’t turn off surfers. Not to mention the actual cost of building the farm.

"We feel pretty good about the reception," Peck said. "There is no room on this island for another wind farm."

If all goes according to Progression’s timeline, the farm will be under construction during 2020 and 2021 with commercial operations slated to begin in 2022.

One big air conditioner?

一个nother technology being studied more seriously in Hawaii as well in Japan’s Okinawa, Guam and across the Caribbean centers on ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) principles.

简单来说，OTEC系统，如一个描绘下面线束温度波动在冷深水和温暖的表面水以产生电力，其可以被添加到网格。

一个nother compelling argument: OTEC systems can be used in collaboration with district cooling systems. The cold seawater left after this process can be pumped buildings to dramatically reduce the amount of electricity they must consume to stay cool, said Duke Hartman, vice president of business development for Makai Ocean Engineering, one of the foremost developers of OTEC.

“酒店可以花空调能量的40％，”他说。“如果你能抽了冷水，这对利用海洋能以可持续的方式取代。

Makai is behind several test facilities, including one at the largest dedicated research facility for OTEC in Kona, Hawaii. One challenge, Hartman admits, is that even small plants could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build. Efficiency is a challenge in locations where surface temperatures aren’t that different from deep water ones. Both of these factors have made running proof-of-concept installations difficult.

"The resource is ample, but how much of it can we convert? No one can really answer that right now," said Luis Vega, manager of the Hawaii National Marine Renewable Energy Center and an expert in OTEC technologies.

这将需要更大的实验中，维加说，要建立OTEC但许可证是很难获得，资金匮乏。

“在海洋热能的情况下，我们在中学，”维加增加，说明行业当前什么是可能的知识。在他的比喻，太阳能和风能技术已经通过研究生院的工作方式，而新生的研究围绕方法，如波浪能勉强在学龄前。