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I have with me, as we noted, Mr. Richards and Mr. Burr. What 

 we are going to do today is tell you a little bit about tidal power 

 and the alternate ocean energy systems program. 



It is the goal of DOE to assess and, if appropriate, develop 

 options which can be used to extract and distribute significant 

 amounts of energy from the oceans in a reliable, environmentally 

 acceptable and cost effective manner. The program strategy to 

 achieve that goal is to identify the energy resources that are avail- 

 able, to identify the energy extraction and conversion techniques 

 that can make them practical, and then to determine whether they 

 are technically and economically feasible. 



Once this is done, we would then proceed to the development and 

 demonstration of these technologies, which would induce industry 

 to participate in the commercialization of ocean energy extraction 

 devices. 



The primary emphasis, as you know from your own interest and 

 participation in the ocean energy program, is in Ocean Thermal 

 Energy Conversion (OTEC) which, studies show, is expected to be 

 economically acceptable in island markets during the mid to late 

 1980's. Dr. Bennett Miller, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

 Solar Energy, testified before your subcommittee on the OTEC 

 program in January 1980. Today I would like to describe the status 

 and progress in the alternate ocean energy systems program which 

 includes projects in wave energy, ocean currents and salinity gradi- 

 ents. 



Starting with wave energy, we all know that over the years there 

 have been perhaps hundreds of concepts proposed to convert the 

 surging motion of the waves into useful energy. The Department of 

 Energy program is directed toward determining whether such con- 

 cepts offer the promise of providing economic sources of electric 

 power, and if they do, to develop the most efficient concepts for 

 extracting that energy. 



The next slide gives us some information on the wave energy 

 resources along the shoreline of the United States. The important 

 thing to note is that it varies considerably from location to loca- 

 tion. It also varies considerably by season. By far the greatest 

 average potential for wave energy exists along the Oregon-Wash- 

 ington coastline where the waves contain on the average over the 

 year 30 megawatts per linear mile of wave crest. The California 

 coastline has about half that potential per unit length, and other 

 parts of the U.S. coastline have still lower wave potential. 



The numbers you see here are given for coastal waters about 2 

 miles offshore. There is higher wave energy farther out in deeper 

 waters, about 5 to 10 miles offshore, but, unfortunately, if we go 

 out that far, we will be increasing the costs for transmission cables 

 and the like, and so the entire system cost may go up. 



The figure also shows the yearly incidental power averages that 

 are available in those regions. That is shown in the second column. 

 However, to estimate the electric power available, we must factor 

 in both the efficiencies of extraction and conversion, as well as the 

 spacing of the devices that we would use to extract the power along 

 the coastline. 



