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Wave power eyed for power generation
Thursday,
June 25, 2009
The Territorial Energy Office has made headway in attracting potential investors for what it believes will be the territory’s answer to rising fuel costs..the use of wave power to produce electricity.
Acting TEO Director Mauigoa Reupena Tagaloa says Guam and American Samoa are the two territories which have been identified as having the most potential for Ocean Thermal Energy conversion or OTEC, a method for generating electricity which uses the temperature difference that exists between deep and shallow waters to run a heat engine.
He said Guam is already getting military funding to the tune of $1.5 billion for an OTEC plant to help meet the increased demand for power with the military expansion. He said preliminary estimates for an OTEC plant here is half a billion dollars.
Mauigoa says the savings that the territory will make from its fuel bill when it coverts to OTEC power will be much more than what it will spend on the project. And he says federal funding sources have been identified but private investors are still needed.
Mauigoa says TEO has already lined up potential investors for the project, and he expects that by next year there’ll be people working on the OTEC project .
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