Pelamis Wave Energy Project
Pelamis Wave Energy Project
Find out more about the 2.25MW Pelamis Wave Energy Project in Portugal
wavePelamis Wave Ltd (formerly know as
Ocean Power Delivery Ltd) have developed a pioneering commercial
wave power generator which has been successfully installed three miles off the northern coast of
Portugal near the town of Povoa de Varzim. This is the first commercial scale
wave-power station in the world.
Built in the Camcal factory on the Isle of Lewis, the sea snake-like device is made up of a series of three semi-submerged cylinders linked by hinged joints. Each cylinder has a diameter of
3.5 metres and is made from 700 tonnes of
carbon steel.
The motion of each hinge is resisted by
hydraulic rams driving generators which produce
electricity. The power conversion units in each 140 metre long
Pelamis P-750s generates up to 750kW of electricity.
Three of these
wave-energy converters (snakes) have been installing giving a maximum power generation capacity of 2.25MW (enough for 1,500 homes), but if successful, a further
25 converters will be added for a capacity of
21MW (to power
15,000 homes). The Pelamis devices are connected to one another and then to an onshore
sunstation via an undersea cable. The first phase of this project has so far cost
€9 million.
Portugal are attempting to generate
60% of their electricity (and 30% of all
power) from renewables by 2020 * - and currently pay
€0.25 per kWh (unit) of electricity generated by renewable power. Unlike wind energy,
wave energy is very predictable and sustained which makes it an excellent choice.
*
Click here to read our related article Moura World's Largest PV Solar Plant (in Portugal) which will soon supply enough solar electricity to supply 30,000 homes with power.
Planned Pelamis Projects
Four more
Pelamis machines will be installed off the west coast of the Scottish
Orkney Islands at the end of 2008 in a ScottishPower
3MW project (with £4 million of funding from the Scottish govenenment).
Pelamis Efficiency and Future Developments
A device which extracted all of the energy from the waves on which it
swims would quickly be destroyed. Therefore, in order to survive many years, only a small portion of the available
wave energy can usually be converted into electricity.
Work is currently being undertaken at the
University of Edinburgh to find the means to increase the efficiency of the Pelamis without reducing its survivability. This has included research using
genetic algorithms - computer programs which model the process of
natural selection and
evolution - to develop a
Pelamis which
swims on the surface in a different way depending on the speed and size of the waves passing beneath it. By developing an
active control system for Pelamis, much higher outputs of electricity could be possible.
Article Last Modified: 11:18, 25th Sep 2008Comment on this Article
If you have any comments on this article, please email them to
neil@reuk.co.uk.
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