Ocean Power IPO Heads for Choppy Waters

In 1886, an entrepreneur had the bright idea of building a machine that could harness the massive power of ocean waves.

He anchored it off the San Francisco coast, and within months a ship carrying 40 tons of dynamite veered close to the rocky coast. The crew abandoned it, and when it detonated, it carried the wave-power technology with it.

That should have been a sign, but other businessmen continued to place wave-power machines off the California coast. The potential was just too enticing: Using natural resources, without having to find or exploit them, to generate electricity. ...