World’s First Wave Farm Opens

Posted by Miss Cellania in Science & Tech on October 1, 2008 at 8:30 am



The world’s first commercial wave farm is operational three miles off the shores of Portugal. The three 140-meter generators were built by British company Pelamis. The “sea snakes” convert the kinetic energy of wave motion into electricity -enough to power 1,000 homes.

Each of semi-submerged Pelamis devices is 142m long, has a diameter of 3.5m and is made from 700 tonnes of carbon steel. A single wave converter is composed of four articulated sections that move up and down as the waves pass along it. At each of the hinges between the sections, hydraulic rams use the wave motion to drive generators to produce up to 750KW of power at peak output.

The electricity generated by the three Pelamis devices will be carried by undersea cable to a substation in Aguçadoura, which will then feed the power into the Portuguese national grid.

The wave farm will eventually add another 25 generators, enough to produce up to 21 megawatts of power, with no CO2 emissions. Link -Thanks, Jee!




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COMMENT

4 comments to "World’s First Wave Farm Opens"

  1. Brian
    October 1st, 2008 at 9:09 am

    It’s not quite correct to say that there are “no CO2 emissions”. Refining and casting 700 tonnes of carbon steel is a carbon-intensive process.

    It is true that there are no carbon emissions after the initial investment, however. I wonder what the break-even point is, relative to a conventional gas-powered or coal-powered plant?

  2. anon
    October 1st, 2008 at 11:32 am

    I am no physicist, but I have always wondered about many of these carbon-free energy systems. Particularly in the example of wave and wind farms, but solar may apply as well. The very process they employ simply converts one form of energy to the other, right? As such, won’t we see cooling conditions in the ocean (for wave farms) and atmosphere (for wind farms)? This cooling isn’t the same as ‘not producing carbon’ but more from moving the energy from one system and into another.

    Since it takes energy to move these various generators, won’t the waves and wind which pass them be perhaps colder and slower?

    If someone could explain this to me I would greatly appreciate it. ^___^

  3. K!P
    October 1st, 2008 at 12:38 pm

    im by no means a expert, but i think the energy taken from the air/sea is being put back into the sytem when we use it, hot air currents escaping buildings for example.

  4. Christophe
    October 1st, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    There’s some concerns on the durability of the system in the harsh environment compared to other solutions like the Searev sealed-pod program. It’s still a wonderful idea and seeing it coming reality is a ray of hope for my utility bill in 2040.

    Waves are interesting as well as tides/currents : check out Seagen in UK or Verdant Power’s turbines in NY.


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