UK Oysters Could Be Tapped to Generate Electricity

That seems reasonably sensible.
Proably not too easy to anchor it reliably.
Sensible to do the generation onshore.
Del

Wouldn't have expected this...: "Probably not too easy to anchor it reliably."

At least some of those offshore (oil & gas) platforms don't move around much at their bases, even when hurricanes twist the upper portions like a pretzel!

Piles driven into the seafloor can be mightily secure...

Sounds like a fantastik idea, adhering well to the "KISS" principle.

Interesting experiment. I have to wonder what the production cost will be for these units, the commissioning cost, and maintenance costs. Oh, peak values of 300-600kW, I wonder what the average power really will be for a given section of shoreline instead of siting them on Waimea Bay in the winter months? How much did you say each kWhr will cost?

Funny, TreeHugger doesn't seem to want to give us those numbers.

So what are they doing with all the salt water that will be squirted on shore? It has to go somewhere. It is salt water, you can't put in in a river or onto the ground. Even dumping it directly back into the ocean might be a problem with the current created. Will the temperature be changed? How will this effect the shoreline? Recirculating hydraulic fluid might be a better way to go - except if it leaks out.

This uses a huge hydraulic ram type device that is under water. How are you going to do maintenance on it? There is nothing like salt water waves to create broken items. Salt water meets moving seal - no issues there. Waiting for a calm day for repairs does not seem like a good long term maintenance practice.

Lots of questions, the article does not seem to have answers.

There may be better ideas out there for generating electricity from waves. At least people are trying.

The bit that puzzle me slightly is the configuration for wave capture.

If the swivel point of each blade is lower than point B it won't be fully effective, and will act a bit like a barrier reef. I've no idea how steady the height of sea level is at the proposed location(s). Maybe the vertical arrangement is chosen instead of horizontal (like Salters Duck) to minimize visual impact ? The article is pretty short on technical detail. It all sounds feasible, but even with power conversion on-shore it's still a long way from where it can be used. I'd love to know the pay-back time they imagine (), although pay-back is not the 'end of' argument for/against renewables. Maybe the whole thing is better viewed as a test bed thing for large scale wave farms.

The kind of idea proposed at Corryvreckon (just around the corner) to use tidal turbines may be more promising. The whales etc might get a bit pissed if sucked into one, but it's probably easier to stop that than bashing them on the head with a paddle. The Severn Barrier is downright scary - unknown ecological effects etc etc.