アメリカエネルギー省 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)は、全国的なレベルで詳細な波力発電と潮流発電（潮汐力発電）などの資源評価リポートを公開しました。これらのリポートによると、2030年までに従来の水力と波力、そして潮流などの海洋エネルギーを利用することで、アメリカの電力消費量の15%を賄いうる可能性があると発表しました。
アメリカが広範かつ詳細なリポートを制作するのは始めてということで、各種地図もリリース、今後情報発信の面でも拡充をはかるとのことです。これら海洋エネルギーなどへの取り組みにより、新しい産業と、その雇用を創出し、やがてはこの新しい技術分野でのリーダシップの確保につなげていくとのことです。
海洋エネルギーの分野で、ヨーロッパに遅れをとっているとの指摘もあるアメリカが動きだす契機になりそうなこのリポートの発表で、最初になすべきこととしてのポテンシャルの把握、そして研究機関の拡充などが重視されている様を見て取れます。今後、国民的なコンセンサスの形成に向けてのさまざまな活動が本格化していくのでしょう。
当然、再生可能エネルギーに活路を見出したいのなら、日本も続くべきだと思います。
アメリカの電力消費量は、4,000 terawatt hours (TWh)、つまり4兆kWhだということです。日本の数字は荒々、1兆kWh（1000TWh）ぐらいでしょうか。そのアメリカの電力消費4,000 TWhの中で、最大の波力と潮流発電を合わせた最大のポテンシャルは、1,420 TWh。およそ三分の一を賄うことができる潜在力があるとのことです。
そこで、当然の期待！ 日本の海岸線の長さの合計は、アメリカの1.5倍もあり、世界6位です。当然日本でも詳細な資源量調査とポテンシャルマップが作られていいはずです。もちろん、世界で開発されている最新の海洋エネルギー関連機器の具体的な利用をも想定したポテンシャルも計算して、、、、。まずは、そこからです。
なお、アメリカでは海洋温度差発電にも国際的な比較では大きな研究費を割き始めています。今回公開された地図には、参考として、海洋温度差発電用年平均のエネルギー量も示されました。(2t)
プレスリリース / U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),January 18, 2012
・DOE Reports Show Major Potential for Wave and Tidal Energy Production Near U.S. Coasts
" The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today released two nationwide resource assessments showing that waves and tidal currents off the nation's coasts could contribute significantly to the United States' total annual electricity production, further diversify the nation's energy portfolio, and provide clean, renewable energy to coastal cities and communities. These new wave and tidal resource assessments, combined with ongoing analyses of the technologies and other resource assessments, show that water power, including conventional hydropower and wave, tidal, and other water power resources, can potentially provide 15% of our nation's electricity by 2030. Today's reports represent the most rigorous analysis undertaken to date to accurately define the magnitude and location of America's ocean energy resources. The information in these resource assessments can help to further develop the country's significant ocean energy resources, create new industries and new jobs in America, and secure U.S. leadership in an emerging global market.
The United States uses about 4,000 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year. DOE estimates that the maximum theoretical electric generation that could be produced from waves and tidal currents is approximately 1,420 TWh per year, approximately one-third of the nation's total annual electricity usage. Although not all of the resource potential identified in these assessments can realistically be developed, the results still represent major opportunities for new water power development in the United States, highlighting specific opportunities to expand on the 6% of the nation's electricity already generated from renewable hydropower resources.
The two reports?"Mapping and Assessment of the United States Ocean Wave Energy Resource" and "Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Tidal Streams in the United States"?calculate the maximum kinetic energy available from waves and tides off U.S. coasts that could be used for future energy production, and which represent largely untapped opportunities for renewable energy development in the United States.
The West Coast, including Alaska and Hawaii, has especially high potential for wave energy development, while significant opportunities for wave energy also exist along the East Coast. Additionally, parts of both the West and East Coasts have strong tides that could be tapped to produce energy.
Earlier this year, DOE announced the availability of its national tidal resource database, which maps the maximum theoretically available energy in the nation's tidal streams. This database contributed to the "Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Tidal Streams in the United States" report, prepared by Georgia Tech.
The wave energy assessment report, titled "Mapping and Assessment of the United States Ocean Wave Energy Resource," was prepared by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), with support and data validation from researchers at Virginia Tech and DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The report describes the methods used to produce geospatial data and to map the average annual and monthly significant wave height, wave energy period, mean direction, and wave power density in the coastal United States. NREL incorporated the data into a new marine and hydrokinetic energy section in their U.S. Renewable Resource atlas.
In addition to the wave and tidal resource assessments released today, DOE plans to release additional resource assessments for ocean current, ocean thermal gradients, and new hydropower resources in 2012. To support the development of technologies that can tap into these vast water power resources, DOE's Water Power Program is undertaking a detailed technical and economic assessment of a wide range of water power technologies in order to more accurately predict the opportunities and costs of developing and deploying these innovative technologies. The Program is currently sponsoring over 40 demonstration projects that will advance the commercial readiness of these systems, provide first-of-a-kind, in-water performance data that will validate cost-of-energy predictions, and identify pathways for large cost reductions.
These resource assessments, techno-economic assessments, and technology demonstration projects are critical elements of DOE's strategy to capture the very real opportunities associated with water power development, and to further define the path to supplying 15% of the nation's electricity through water power technologies.
DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy invests in clean energy technologies that strengthen the economy, protect the environment, and reduce dependence on foreign oil. DOE's Water Power Program is paving the way for industry and government to make sound investment and policy decisions about the deployment of renewable water power technologies by quantifying the nation's theoretically available water power resources.
.......... "
関連
・資料 : Mapping and Assessment of the United States Ocean Wave Energy Resource(PDF)
-----image : 同資料カバー、下-西海岸の波力エネルギー密度-----
・資料 : Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Tidal Streams in the United States(PDF)
-----image : 資料「Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Tidal Streams in the United States」カバー
・National Renewable Energy Laboratory : MHK Atlas
-----image : 上記地図より波力密度の地図-----
-----image : 上記地図より海洋温度差発電用年平均のエネルギー量（参考資料）
・National Renewable Energy Laboratory : Maps
・U.S. Department of Energy : Water Power Program Marine and Hydrokinetic Technology Database
・DOE reports show major potential for wave and tidal energy production near US coasts-----Green Car Congress,21 January 2012
追加情報
・海洋波、地球の巨大エネルギー-----ナショナルジオグラフィック、March 14, 2012
" ....米電力中央研究所（EPRI）の調査によると、この波を波力発電に応用した場合の年間総発電量は1360テラワット時。日本の年間総発電量の1.4倍、アメリカの電力需要量の約30％に相当する。..... "
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