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Newest Alternative Energy - Portugal's Wave Power Plant
Posted on Thu Oct 5 2006
This is quite an amazing breakthrough in power generation. It's safe, easy to deploy, and not harmful to the environment. Hopefully we can see these in North America soon. A Scottish company will deploy sausage-shaped tubes off Portugal to create the world's first commercial wave power plant, providing electricity to 1,500 homes from 2006, a partner in the Scottish firm said on Friday. Ocean Power Delivery (OPD) will build the wave farm about three miles off Portugal's northern coast, near Povoa de Varzim, OPD's Norwegian backer Norsk Hydro said. OPD will deliver three wave power generation units with capacity of 2.25 megawatts to Portuguese renewable energy group Enersis for $10 million, but the project could be expanded significantly, Norsk Hydro said. OPD's Pelamis P-750 wage energy converter is an elongated metal unit that looks like a big semi-submerged sausage, with hinged segments that rock with the sea, up and down and side to side, pumping fluid to hydraulic motors that drive generators. The power produced by the generators is fed into underwater cables and brought to land. A letter of intent for a further 30 Pelamis wave machines for a total of 20 megawatts before the end of 2006 was also signed, subject to satisfactory performance by the initial installation, Hydro said. If all goes well, many additional sites producing up to a total several hundred MW could be developed along the coast, Norsk Hydro said. We see this order as just the first step in developing the Portuguese market, which is anticipated to be worth up to a billion euros over the next 10 years, OPD Managing Director Richard Yemm said in the statement. OPD is also in talks with Scottish Power, which has shown interest in installing a wave farm in the United Kingdom, Hydro said. The European Union requires 22 percent of electricity consumption to come from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and wave by 2010. Renewables currently meet about six percent of European demand, Hydro said. Via msnbc.com Big thanks to snehal who reported this story. Visit our brand new forums to discuss this story. :) CommentsLet us know what you think! |
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Hopefully we can see these in north amertica soon. is that anywhere near America?
[...] Take a look at this new technology: Wave power! By using the natural undulation of ocean waves to push fluids back and forth through pipes, a Scottish company will generate enough power to supply 1,500 homes. The only power generating technology that could possibly be any greener would have to be electrodynamic tethers, long cables that pick up static charge as they are dragged through Earth’s magnetic field. [...]
[...] the portuguese love renewable energy like windmills and solar power. check this out about the first wave powered generators. [...]
[...] This is quite an amazing breakthrough in power generation. It’s safe, easy to deploy, and not harmful to the environment. A Scottish company will deploy sausage-shaped tubes off Portugal to create the world ’s first commercial wave power plant, providing electricity to 1,500 homes in 2006.read more | digg story [...]
[...] Tidal power harnesses the energy of large volumes of water moving in and out from the coast. Tides are extremely reliable and predictable which is useful for power management. Tides occur are due to frictional forces with the moon (occurring due to gravity) and the energy dissipated by this 2500GW, enough to supply our current electrical needs, but not by that much with our current usage being estimated at 2000GW. Tidal plants are very expensive and may not see returns for years due to high build costs. The largest plant currently in operation is on the Rance River producing 240MW and was actually built in the 1960s. Scotland is hoping to have a wave power plant constructed by 2010 aiming to replace one large fossil fuel burning station. [...]
[...] … create the world’s first commercial wave power plant, providing electricity to 1, … Ocean Power Delivery (OPD) will build the wave farm about three miles off … More information on alternative power… [...]
[...] This is quite an amazing breakthrough in power generation. It s safe, easy to deploy, and not harmful to the environment. Hopefully we can see these in North America soon. Futher reading on alternative power [...]
i live in Iloilo City, the Philippines and i am in distress over our government's project with business investors to build a power plant which burns coal instead of using alternative sources of energy (article: http://www.klima.ph/news/iloilo3.htm) . It is sad to see that money is still the main concern of our officials ---to generate support for this they have been paying and falsely informing people about the power plant so that they will get the support they need. PLease help me in spreading this and convincing them that this is not the way to go!
can you post how much you save from wave power? i am doing a school report, and i need to know! thx.
i like
I do believe that "an amazing breakthrough" has already been said; let me second that! I live on the Pacific Coast and think this is a tremendous idea. At three miles off the shore they wouldn't even be seen by those on land. Even if they were, I'd put up with the sight of a long "orange sausage"floating on the waves, giving us clean and natural energy.
I agree with MollyL. If it's that far out nobody's going to see it from the shore unless they happen to be using a telescope. That little bit of energy that it produces with very helpful in this country, USA. Especially now with the price of oil and gasoline.