Source: South West of England RDA

Wave Hub, the world’s first large-scale wave farm is due to be given planning permission today. The company behind Wave Hub, Pelamis Wave Power (formerly known as Ocean Power Delivery) developed the system from a prototype tested off the Orkneys, close to the Scottish coastline. From this early prototype, a small scale wave farm was built off the coast of Portugal, which has led to the development of this full scale system.

Edinburgh based Pelamis Wave Power was set up in 1998 by Dr Richard Yemm, who said “This is a proud moment for me and the original founders of this business. It signals the completion of our transition from concept to production, and a shift of focus to scaling-up the business to become a leader in the Renewables Industry worldwide.”

The project is estimated to cost £28 million and will be built off the Cornish coast in the south-west of England. Wave Hub is expected to start producing electricity by 2009. Funding for the project has already been approved by the South West of England Regional Development Agency (RDA).

An artist's impression of Wave Hub

Wave Hub will cover a sea area of 3.125 square miles, with up to 30 wave energy devices floating on the sea surface above Wave Hub. Generators attached to Wave Hub’s infrastructure by developers will produce enough electricity for 7,500 homes, which equates to a saving of 300,000 tons of CO2 emissions over 25 years. An independent economic impact assessment by the RDA has found that Wave Hub could create 1,800 jobs and contribute £560 million to the UK economy over 25 years.

The system will include an on-shore substation connected to the electrical equipment on the seabed 10 miles off the coast with under-sea cables. Other companies developing wave energy technologies will be able to plug into Wave Hub to test their equipment on a working scale system in real-life conditions. As well as generating electricity, Wave Hub will be a test-bed for current and future wave energy systems. – The Independent

Finavera's AquaBuOY

In a similar vein, Finavera has successfully deployed the second generation of its AquaBuOY wave energy converter (PDF) off the coast of Newport, Oregon. Finavera is one of the companies at the forefront of wave energy generation technology, with wave energy projects totaling more than 250 megawatts (MW) planned or under development on the west coast of North America. This is a further step in Finavera’s development program, with the aim of producing a commercially viable wave energy powered system generating electricity by 2010. This particular system consists of a buoy weighing nearly 40 tons and 75 feet in length, with only the top 10 feet visible above the surface, making it far less of an eyesore than an off-shore wind farm. Over the coming weeks, Finavera is set to test the performance of the Aqua Buoy’s components and monitor its hydraulic power output. The results of this test will be utilised in the next design of the wave energy converter, with an anticipated deployment in 2008.

Hopefully as the full benefits of Wave Hub are explored, other such systems will be built around the UK coastline and across the world. Along with the developments taking place in the US, forward thinking companies like Finavera and the UK’s Pelamis are leading the way in renewable energy research. New technologies can and are being developed that will help us to reduce our global CO2 emissions, as long as there is enough incentive for companies to invest in the costly research and development programs. This is where governments can lead the way with more research grants to help the process along. I am sure there are many universities that would get involved in developing new technologies, again governments could give extra funding for renewable energy research projects. Now is the time for investment.

Further Reading:

• Ocean Power on the Rise