July 2003

OMI briefs U. S Interior, Bureau of Reclamation on

OMI WavePump and low-cost desalination for coastal communities.

 

United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation representatives, Kevin Price and Tom Jennings were briefed by Dwight Houser of Ocean Motion International (OMI) and Gary Schuetz, Department of Energy.  Kevin Price is a key member of the Executive Committee and Working Groups for the Desalination and Water Purification Technology Roadmap.  The Desalination Roadmap summarizes water supply challenges facing the United States and suggests areas of research and development that may lead to technological solutions to these challenges.

 

The 60 page report, published by Reclamation in January 2003, highlights the high energy cost of desalination of sea water ¹.  With 44% of the cost for reverse-osmosis desalination of seawater going to electric power, the greatest efficiencies can be realized in this area.  The briefing described how OMI’s WavePump, which operates on ocean waves, eliminates this cost entirely. 

 

The report further highlights the historical cost reductions for water produced by current-generation desal facilities resulting in current costs at between $1 and $3 per thousand gallons.  This cost is about 5-6 times more than ‘conventionally treated’ fresh water and is expected to remain costly until a “Revolutionary Technology” is found ².  The ‘step-change’ in terms of cost per gallon of water produced appears to be directly in line with OMI’s revolutionary WavePump.  The briefing included a discussion on this area of opportunity and why OMI is excited to promote this technological approach. 

 

Read more about the revolutionary OMI WavePump and how it functions in the OMI Combined Energy System.

 

 

 

 

References:

1.     Desal Roadmap Appendix B - The Roadmapping Process, Figure B1

2.     Desal Roadmap Appendix C - The Impact of Revoutionary,Next-Generation Technologies, Figure C2