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Wave farms are places where competing technology is installed and tested while connected to the grid. Governments usually help fund them to encourage development in the area. Basically they are a socket and extension lead for devices to plug into. They will eventually be like wind farms where accepted technology is harnessed to supply power. Most of them face west where the largest waves come from. |
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PortugalThe Aguçadoura Wave Farm was the world's first wave farm. It was located 5 km (3 mi) offshore near Póvoa de Varzim, north of Porto, Portugal. The farm was designed to use three Pelamis wave energy converters The farm first generated electricity in July 2008. The wave farm was shut down two months later in November 2008 as a result of the financial collapse of Babcock & Brown. In 2009, Portuguese electricity companies EDP and Efacec purchased B&B's shares and now plan to install, a farm of up to 26 machines with an installed capacity of 20MW. The timelines for this project will depend on the testing work currently underway of the P2 Pelamis in the Orkneys. |
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Orkney Scotland
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Other clients:
Aquamarine Power
Seatricity
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ScotlandFunding for a 3 MW wave farm in Scotland was announced on February 20, 2007, by the Scottish Executive, at a cost of over 4 million pounds, as part of a £13 million funding package for marine power in Scotland. The first of 66 machines was launched in May 2010 Farr Point - Sutherland coast, by Bettyhill Pelamis Wave Power is building a 10 MW wave farm off the Sutherland coast. To be producing by 2016 Lewis Aquamarine Power has received full consent from the Scottish Government for a 40MW wave farm off the north-west coast of Lewis, Scotland. This will ultimately see the deployment of between 40 and 50 Oyster devices along the coast at Lag na Greine, near to Fivepenny Borve. |
Aquamarine's Oyster being towed into position |
England UK - Wave hubA facility known as Wave hub has been constructed off the north coast of Cornwall, England, to facilitate wave energy development. The Wave hub will act as giant extension cable, allowing arrays of wave energy generating devices to be connected to the electricity grid. The Wave hub will initially allow 20 MW of capacity to be connected, with potential expansion to 40 MW. Four device manufacturers have so far expressed interest in connecting to the Wave hub.[87][88] The scientists have calculated that wave energy gathered at Wave Hub will be enough to power up to 7,500 households. The site has the potential to save greenhouse gas emissions of about 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide in the next 25 years.[89]
The £30m Wave Hub consists of a giant "socket" on the sea bed, which is connected to the power grid by an underwater cable. The hub was installed in 2010. |
Wave hub UK Click to enlarge Source
Wave Hub - 10 miles off Cornwall UK |
AustraliaA CETO wave farm off Off Garden Island on the coast of Western Australia has been operating to prove commercial viability and, after preliminary environmental approval, is poised for further development.
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OPT Australasia Pty Ltd is developing a wave farm connected to the grid near Portland, Victoria through a 19 MW wave power station. The project has received an AU $66.46 million grant from the Federal Government of Australia. Oceanlinx will deploy a commercial scale demonstrator off the coast of South Australia at Port MacDonnell before the end of 2013. This device, the greenWAVE, has a rated electrical capacity of 1MW. This project has been supported by ARENA through the Emerging Renewables Program. The greenWAVE device is a bottom standing gravity structure, that does not require anchoring or seabed preparation and with no moving parts below the surface of the water. |
Ocean Power Technologies wave farm oranisation
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United StatesThe following wave farm has been abandoned as they were unable to raise the finance. Reedsport, Oregon – a commercial wave park on the west coast of the United States located 2.5 miles offshore near Reedsport, Oregon. The first phase of this project is for ten PB150 PowerBuoys, or 1.5 megawatts.[93][94] The Reedsport wave farm was scheduled for installation spring 2013.[95] Project has ground to a halt because of legal and technical problems, August, 2013. See:- http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/08/oregon_wave_energy_stalls_off.html Source Wikipedia
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ItalyThe company 40South Energy has its offshore test site in Castiglioncello, Italy, and plans to upgrade the site to a commercial Wave Energy Park by connecting it with an electrical cable to shore. In the meantime, the owners of an offshore aquaculture installation in Lavagna, Italy, are in the process of converting their concession from fish farming to fish farming plus electricity production. The technology used in this Wave Energy Park will come from 40South Energy. RussiaIn 2013, Ocean RusEnergy company, based in Yekaterinburg, demonstrated a line of wave energy generators. Their modular design allows to assemble a wave power farm having a desired capacity. They are aiming to generate private electricity of 160 - 600 Watts in waves up to 0.3 metres i.e. on lakes. Source SwedenPlans for world's largest wave farm |
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