The €9 million Aguçadoura project could be expanded from 2 MW to 21 MW if initially successful.
Pelamis Wave Power has started operating what Portuguese officials say is the world’s first commercial wave-power project, located five kilometers (three miles) off Portugal’s northern coast.
This week, Edinburgh, Scotland’s Pelamis installed the first of three wave-energy converters expected to have a capacity of 2.25 megawatts and provide power to 1,500 homes. If successful, Pelamis later plans to add 25 converters for a capacity of 21 MW and the ability to power 15,000 homes.
Pelamis was formerly known as Ocean Power Delivery.
Portugal has a target of generating 31 percent of its energy from renewable by 2020. The country pays a feed-in-tariff of about €0.23 (33 cents) per kilowatt hour.
The 140-meter (460-foot) energy converters are partially submerged structures that derive power from the motion of waves. The bobbing motion of the cylindrical structures pumps hydraulic fluid to drive generators. An undersea cable then links the generators’ output to a substation on shore and send its to the grid.
The €9 million ($13 million USD) Aguçadoura project is 23-percent owned by Pelamis. Aguçadoura is part of the Waves of Portugal venture, which is owned by Babcock & Brown, Energias de Portugal and Efacec. That effort hopes to experiment with several marine-power ventures.
Pelamis next plans to install four of its machines later this year two kilometers off the west coast of the Orkney Islands. The Scottish government is providing £4 million funding for the 3MW project with ScottishPower (see ScottishPower to build world’s biggest ocean power project).
Another Pelamis project is being planned for 2009 in Cornwall
– from cleantech, pelamiswave.com