Abstract
The area north of Mokapu Peninsula, adjacent to Kaneohe Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), has been utilized by the U.S. Navy and Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (OPT) for wave energy research since 2002. After a 2 year deployment, a prototype OPT PowerBuoy was recently retrieved from the 30 meter water depth offshore of North Beach at the MCBH. The Hawaii National Marine Renewable Energy Center (HNMREC) at the University of Hawaii, under contract with Department of Energy, desires to expand the present test site to water depths of 100 meters to allow for the testing of other wave energy devices.
Sea Engineering has been contracted by the HNMREC to conduct site investigations in support of the development of the expanded test site. The surveys were completed in 2011, and included multibeam bathymetry, side scan sonar, sub-bottom profiling and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) video. Results of these surveys have been previously submitted as individual survey reports following completion of each survey. Following initial design analysis using the 2011 survey results, the WETS site was expanded 1000m to the west (Site 2) to accommodate the anticipated mooring footprint of the WEC devices.
The project location is shown in Figure 1-1. An aerial image of the 4.4 km2 originally proposed test site is shown in Figure 1-2. The test site is 1,600 to 2,000 meters wide and extends approximately 2,600 meters offshore from the 30 meter depth contour to the approximate 100 meter depth contour. Figure 1-3 shows Site 2 extending 1000m to the west of the original WETS site.