The world’s first commercial wave farm

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March 10, 2007 Look at reports such as the Electric Power Research Institute’s Electricity Technology in a Carbon-Constrained Future (February 2007)and the Role of Renewable Energy in Future Electricity Supply (July 30, 2006) and you’ll see we all face some common problems – Planet Earth is showing signs of toxic shock, we need energy and we have yet to solve our reliance on emission-producing energy sources. Those same reports don’t see ocean power playing much of a role in the foreseeable future, but as the game plays itself out, new technologies for harvesting the power of the ocean is emerging. Already, claim its proponents, the costs of producing electricity from wind energy have fallen by 80% over the past two decades as a result of volume and production optimisation. With opening costs around half wind energy’s opening costs and a quarter the current cost of solar, a new form of wave energy harvester has the potential to become one of the lowest cost forms of generation in the longer term. The Pelamis is a semi-submerged structure composed of cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. The wave-induced motion of these joints is resisted by hydraulic rams. These pump oil through hydraulic motors which drive generators to produce electricity. Power from all the joints is fed down a single umbilical cable to a junction on the sea bed. Several devices can be connected together and linked to shore through a single seabed cable.

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