Wave and Tidal Power Industry Buffeted by Rough U.S. Regulatory Process

The American wave and tidal industry, which has the potential to meet roughly one-third of all U.S. electricity needs, has a treacherous route to navigate in order to live up to its potential.

The United States is well-positioned to be the global leader in this nascent marketplace, according to industry experts. But onerous regulations and a lack of federal funding stand to quash the domestic industry before it really gets started.

In 2012, Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), a Pennington, N.J.-based wave energy company, appeared set to build America's first grid-connected wave energy project, a 1.5-megawatt power station composed of 10 "PowerBuoys" in waters near Reedsport, Ore.

Having received at least $4.4 million in Department of Energy funding, it secured the first Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license for a wave power station in August 2012.

But this March, OPT abandoned the project in favor of a similar development in Australia, citing "a considerable increase in costs" in a March filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

It is assumed the decision to relocate is largely due to the lengthy, costly process the company underwent to secure the FERC license in the United States, according to Jason Busch, executive director of Oregon Wave Energy Trust, a nonprofit, state-supported group that spent more than $436,000 in support of OPT.

Wave and Tidal Power Industry Buffeted by Rough U.S. Regulatory Process