240 



Mr. Studds. Thank you very much, sir. 



Did you conclude that your scientist who made this invention 

 was brillant because of the invention or because of his name for it? 

 That is a marvelous name. 



Mr. HiGGiNS. The inventor is not only prolific as a scientist but 

 he comes up with good, catchy names. You can imagine the name 

 has given us some trouble, but some notoriety also. 



Mr. Studds. I think it is marvelous. I can see naming a boat that 

 way immediately. 



You are uncharacteristically kind in your references to the De- 

 partment of Energy in this testimony compared to some of Lock- 

 heed's observations in the past, as I recall. Do you share DOE's 

 projections and assessments of the resource potential of wave 

 energy at this point, or do you find them, as you have suggested in 

 the past, to be lagging a bit behind the scientific and corporate and 

 academic community in their enthusiasm and awareness of the 

 situation? 



Mr. HiGGiNS. In terms of the wave energy resource that is availa- 

 ble, I think we share the same information as to the amount of 

 resource that can be available for wave energy systems. 



In terms of the development, we had hoped to initiate contracted 

 work a year or two ago, but we had numerous discussions relative 

 to the patent issue before we were able to resolve those issues and 

 begin the contract that I referred to in the testimony. 



Mr. Studds. That patent issue seems to me to raise questions 

 that far transcend this or any particular technology. 



Mr. HiGGiNS. Correct. 



Mr. Studds. In terms of good relationships between the Govern- 

 ment and private enterprise. 



Mr. HiGGiNS. Correct. 



Mr. Studds. I don't want to get into that one here. 



Setting that one aside for the moment, I take it you do not have 

 any strong criticism, you don't see the Department dragging its 

 feet on this technology' as you have in the past on others? 



Mr. HiGGiNS. We feel that we could proceed somewhat faster in 

 the current program, but subject to the funding available, we are 

 now planning to do basically a year's worth of analysis. We will 

 then proceed into the design of a model, the 1/50 scale model 

 which would be twice the scale we have tested. We hope from that 

 model to obtain good, quantitative data which will enable us to 

 assess wave energy far better than we have been able to do in the 

 past. 



Mr. Studds. Does wave energy appear to you now to be continu- 

 ous enough to support base load power needs? 



Mr. HiGGiNS. In some areas, such as the Pacific Northwest, and 

 in some areas such as off of Scotland and Ireland, there may be 

 some capability to support base load. It is not to the same degree of 

 base load support that OTEC would be. 



Mr. Studds. And it is generally west coast-oriented because of 

 the earth's rotation? 



Mr. HiGGiNS. Yes, sir, the waves tend to be considerably bigger 

 on the west coasts of land masses; for example, the Pacific North- 

 west coast and the coasts of Ireland and Scotland. 



