There is no data on maintenance costs, possible environmental impacts on the marine environment or potential engineering problems that could arise with a full-scale model — not an enticing combination for private investment. ... The pilot is needed to produce the information necessary to attract investment for a large-scale model ...
You seem confused about something, that link is announcing a 5-10 MW system they didn't build. Or rather what they built is the system that you're calling useless.
> they are already scaling it in China and other places why not scale it in the US?
That question is answered in the comment you replied to. China doesn't care about things like marine life and runs on giant government capital investments.
Beyond the direct costs there's also to cost of the new tech vs direct cost + external costs of current tech. One knows that burning natural gas has an externalities of adding carbon to the atmosphere.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/print-edition/2010/11/12/...
This tbh looks less like any type of commercialization but more of a consolation prize to LM since the Navy paid for the original pilot and was supposed to pay for the expansion but due to the drop in oil prices it never came off the ground.
Also the average household consumption in Hawaii is 2.3kW/h (gotta love air conditioning) so looks more like 40 houses with peaks averaging at almost double that.
BTW in comparison most commercial Gas Turbine power plants produce 400 MW per unit, or 600 if coupled with a traditional non-critical steam turbine which harness the excess heat.
Low power Gas Turbines small enough to fit in a sipping container which can be delivered by truck average at around 5MW, so this whole apparatus will produce produce 50 times less power than something that can be fit into a container, other unites like the TM2500 by GE which can be towed by a single truck can provide as much as 30MW of power. https://www.ge-distributedpower.com/products/power-generatio...
So besides catching some headlines and paying some dues to LM i really don't see this being any thing but a waste of money.