Fish-Friendly Hydroelectric
by J.D. AdamsJuly 10th, 2006 at 20:40:35
On the issue of Oregon’s energy future, it is apparent that once again we are being called on to lead the nation in a search for answers. What the northwest has to offer is abundant hydroelectric power, but the harvest of this potential energy must be adapted to minimize the impact to aquatic ecosystems. More consideration should be given to the design of fishladders and other schemes that allow natural bypassing of man-made structures by migrating fish. The entire concept of the hydroelectric dam could be revisited, evolving into a more versatile free-standing turbine device, or one based on oscillating motion. Ongoing research at Oregon State University uses such a principle to gain power from waves in the ocean. Annette von Jouanne and other researchers at OSU’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science have created what is essentially a linear generator in a floating buoy that can transform the motion of the waves into electricity. The complete story can be viewed at http://oregonstate.edu/home/stories/vonjouanne.html
July 13th, 2006 at 9:12 am
A free standing turbine device. Sounds promising. The next step would be cleaning up the waterway so the fish we eat aren’t chalk-full with PCBs.
July 20th, 2006 at 7:56 am
OSU is working closely with crab sfishermen and the Coast Guard to insure minimal distruption. They invision colonies of the things, maybe a couple hundred closely packed together. Somehoww, they seem to have the fishermen mollified — the gumint is slow in some cases with its response.
July 20th, 2006 at 8:07 am
Addendum to my earlier comment. For further information, try the web site provided by J.D. Adams on July 10th. I drew information initially from an article in the Eugene Register-Guard, wherein a reporter provided an extensive report on the project. They’ve chosen a site where they have an existing but abandoned pipeline, which they can utilize for their electrical cabling, and a presently non-used electrical sub-station which they can also utilize. A state university isn’t overloaded with assets, of course, and coming up with this sort of stuff allows them to proceed. As I said, they are being very, very careful about how they proceed. This is no industrial group prepared to run over any opposition.