The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has recently rejected the request it had received to approve a power purchase agreement for a wave power project off the state's northern coast.
The CPUC recently didn't accept Pacific Gas & Electric's (PG&E) application to approve a power purchase agreement for a 2 megawatt wave power project in Humboldt County, California signed between Pacific Gas & Electric and Finavera Renewables in December last year.
As per the information available, in its rejection of the agreement, CPUC said the project was not viable, the power purchase price was too high and that Finavera's bid was out of line with other bidders.
CPUC reportedly called wave technology "nascent" and "pre-commercial," and said, while it is supportive of exploring ways to commercialise wave power, Finavera's project "does not provide enough value to justify the contract price." The commission also noted an incident in 2007 when one of Finavera's test buoys sank off the Oregon coast at the end of its trial period.
In response to the CPUC's draft decision, PG&E argued that the rate was reasonable because the technology is new and the project is small.
According to Finavera, PG&E also said that ratepayers would not be affected if the project is not viable and that a failure to approve the project could negatively affect wave power development in California.
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