Grid Power From The Waves | Green Energy News

August 22, 2004 – Vol.9 No.22

GRID POWER FROM THE WAVES.

After six years of development, the first Pelamis Wave Energy Converter (WEC) is now pumping electricity to Scotland’s power grid. The Pelamis WEC developed by Ocean Power Delivery of Edinburgh was installed at the European Marine Energy Center in Orkney on August 14th and was connected to the grid the next day.

This first full scale Pelamis is a pre-production model with a power output rated at 750 kilowatts. In production each Pelamis would consist of 4 connected floating pontoons end-to-end stretching 120 meters (394 feet) long. In operation, as each snake-like device rolls and bobs in the waves, hydraulic rams at the joints of each pontoon pump oil to hydraulically driven generators to produce electricity. Pelamis devices are moored at one end and connected to the onshore grid by undersea cable.

The company envisions wave energy farms built in waters 50-60 meters (164 - 197 feet) deep and 5-10 kilometers (3-6 miles) from shore. A 30-megawatt Pelamis farm would have 40 machines and need about one square kilometer of ocean space. Visit OPD at http://www.oceanpd.com/ .