Oceanlinx to Provide Wave Power for Maui

By Anonymous

At a press conference with Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle recently, Oceanlinx Limited, an Australia-based high-tech company, formally announced plans to provide electricity to Maui Electric Company from Hawaii’s first wave energy project. The project aims to provide up to 2.7 megawatts from two to three floating platforms located one- half to three-quarters of a mile due north of Pauwela Point on the northeast coast of Maui.

Oceanlinx is an international renewable energy company with a unique, commercially efficient wave-to-electricity system combining the established science of the oscillating water column with Oceanlinx own patented turbine technology. Rising and falling sea swells push and pull air past the turbine; its blades shift in response to the direction of the air flow, enabling the turbine to turn continuously in one direction. Electricity is then brought ashore through an undersea cable to a substation tied to the island electrical grid.

David Weaver, executive chairman and CEO of Oceanlinx, said: “We are very pleased to be a part of Hawaii’s move to increase its production of electricity from clean energy sources. The Oceanlinx technology is an ideal fit for Maui, with its excellent wave climate, and we hope to be able to continue working with Hawaii on wave energy projects in the future.”

“This is an historic occasion for Hawaii,” said Mike May, Hawaiian Electric president & CEO, who offered special thanks and praise for State Representative Cynthia Thielen, a longtime proponent of ocean energy. “Representative Thielen’s persistence and commitment to developing ocean energy in Hawaii have helped bring us to this day.”

“Ocean energy today is where wind was 15 to 20 years ago – with many competing technologies,” May said. “Hawaiian Electric has monitored their progress and we have consulted and assisted whenever possible.”

Oceanlinx will prepare an environmental impact statement for the project and apply for necessary permits and approvals. Maui Electric Company will execute a purchase power agreement with Oceanlinx and seek approvals from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.

The project will include three wave platforms and could be operational by the end of 2009. The cost, to be borne by Oceanlinx and its investors, is estimated at $20 million. Oceanlinx has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Renewable Hawaii, Inc., an unregulated subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Company, for possible passive investment in the project

More information on Oceanlinx (previously Energetech Australia Pty. Ltd. founded in 1997) is available on-line at www.oceanlinx.com.

Copyright Technology Systems Corporation Mar 2008

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