The Department of Energy (DOE) announced last week that it will commit $16
million toward 17 projects to capture energy from waves, tides and
currents. In a press release, DOE stated that the commitment
is "part of the Obama Administration's all-of-the-above
strategy to deploy every available source of American
energy." Although DOE's committed funds are
relatively modest, they may spur the growth of a largely untapped
but potentially significant clean source of domestic power.
Wave and tidal, or hydrokinetic, energy, a renewable fuel
source, may be captured where large volumes of water are moved
(e.g., changing tides and currents). According to
DOE, development of this resource may supply clean and reliable
power to millions of homes, including in many coastal U.S. cities
with high power demands. DOE's latest assessments found
that wave and tidal energy could potentially generate up to 1,400
terawatt hours (or 1.4 billion megawatt hours) annually. (One
terawatt
