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Re:Why is the Fessenheim 2 nuclear power plant closing in Fr... by jnxx on Wednesday July 15, 2020 @02:08PM (#23849182)
And then, there is wave power, which is essentially wind energy decoupled from its origin in time and space, has(had) extremely encouraging working prototypes, like the Pelamis design:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3-SXFtPYe0

This was a [prototype 750 kW (KiloWatt) plant operating at Orkney Islands and near Portugal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelamis_Wave_Energy_Converter) - as a reference, it took wind power plants more than 20 years of enthusiastic development until the installed power reached 500 kW.

It is a shame that this development was shut down (while the design has been reported to be picked up by, guess whom, the Chinese), while being owned by E.ON. But I am sure more developments will follow, as the design is an excellent idea.

Re:Why is the Fessenheim 2 nuclear power plant closing in Fr... by julosflb on Thursday July 16, 2020 @04:48AM (#23857044)
Altough avaible energy is indeed abundant, it is quite a challenge to extract it at scale. The issue with this kind of system is that they usually rely on complex mechanical systems that usually don't play well in offshore conditions and are maintenance nightmares. Some new concept are trying to get rid of mechanical parts using electro active polymer, but that still requires years of development...
Re:Why is the Fessenheim 2 nuclear power plant closing in Fr... by morsch on Thursday July 16, 2020 @06:08AM (#23857444)
> as a reference, it took wind power plants more than 20 years of enthusiastic development until the installed power reached 500 kW.

I mean, I don't doubt that that's true, but at the same time a single modern wind turbine generates 2-5 MWp, up 8 MWp offshore.