The world’s first offshore project to generate power from waves, built in the Orkney Islands off northern Scotland, has started production and supplied electricity to the grid, the project’s developers have announced.
The prototype Pelamis machine, which uses wave motion to turn an electricity producing generator, can supply enough power to run 500 homes. A long cylinder, the machine sits on the water semi-submerged.
The system will continue to be tested and if satisfactory, should lead to the first orders, said developer Ocean Power Delivery, which is working with commercial partners that include utility Scottish Power and the engineering firm AMEC.
Ocean Power Delivery envisions "wave farms" at sea. A 30 megawatt farm, for example, would require 40 machines covering about a square kilometer, and would provide enough electricity for more than 20,000 households.
Britain has some of the best wave resources in Europe but research into wave power, which started in the 1970s after the oil crisis, was abandoned in the early 1980s when nuclear power was expanded.
“Only in the last five years have we seen a resurgence of interest,” Max Carcas, business development director at Ocean Power Delivery, told Reuters.
The initial operating costs are half those of wind power when it launched 20 years ago and are a quarter of those of solar photovoltaic technology, Carcas said.
The British government is keen to encourage wave power and recently announced $90 million in support for the wave and tidal power sector.
Britain has a target of generating 10 percent of its electricity from green sources by 2010, up from around three percent at present.
Most of the expansion is expected from wind power. Many onshore projects have faced planning problems and the focus has shifted to offshore wind farms.
Additional background on the project is online at http://www.oceanpd.com
