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10.29.10

PG&E ends Humboldt wave energy project

From today's T-S:

The Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has announced that it is suspending its effort to develop a wave energy project off the coast of Humboldt County.

The utility cited “significant permitting challenges” and higher-than-expected projected costs. The proposed configuration and location of the project made it unviable, PG&E said in a statement.

The WaveConnect project was touted as first of its kind. PG&E wanted to test three to four different types of wave power generators in an area 1/2-mile wide and 2 miles long about 3 miles to sea roughly west of Arcata. The utility had said that intense wave activity off the Humboldt coast, and the chosen area's proximity to a working harbor, made the site ideal.