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Scotland Building Wave Power Farms

Posted by Zonk on from the rats-water-and-wind-now-we-need-to-harness-dorks dept.

eldavojohn writes "Scottish engineers are taking advantage of the huge ocean coast that Scotland enjoys by building a 'wave farm' to harvest electricity from the ocean's powerful waves. These big red tubes have been named the Pelamis System after a sea snake. Max Carcas, the business developer for the firm, says it is 'a bit like a ship at anchor or a flag on a flagpole, it self orientates into the waves ... Waves then travel down the length of the machine and in doing so each of the sections, each of these train carriages, moves up and down and side to side.' These snake-like movements push hydraulic fluid through generators to produce electricity."

8 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Power output? by SilentOneNCW · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We just had a environmentalist come to our school to talk about alternate energy sources (this is in the UK), and according to him, these systems will only produce one megawatt of power per unit*, comparable to wind turbines. While there is a lot more space in the water to be taken up by power-generators than on land, I've got to wonder how much energy has gone into producing, designing, and deploying this system. With such a low output per unit, is it even worthwhile? * Again, this is not coming from a really reputable source, just some environmental campaigner. Anyone know any real statistics for these type of systems?

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    games journalism blog
  2. Anyone know what the "hydraulic fluid" is? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1, Interesting

    As per the FA, "These snake-like movements push hydraulic fluid through generators to produce electricity." Is this fluid water, or something else?

    If they're using typical "hydraulic fluid" then they should be shot immediately. Or in fact ANYTHING other than water. Fresh or salt makes no difference, can't cause more than a minor blip in the salt content if it's fresh anyway.

    But since the FA doesn't say, and I'm too lazy to go do a bunch of research... Anyone know?

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:Anyone know what the "hydraulic fluid" is? by hobbit · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Fair point. It might be the case that I am a little biased, as one of the engineers working on the project is a friend of mine. He would be the first to admit that the greatest engineering challenge is to dissipate enough power from the system to stop it getting thrashed into pieces. If your local pier is anything like mine, the businesses probably did not prioritise the highest of engineering standards. Perhaps it would be more useful to compare the Pelamis with a ship. Yes, it needs occasional repair; no, putting it out to sea is not a waste of time.

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      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
  3. I wonder how it compares? by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ocean Power is currently installing their Utility-sized bouys off the Oregon Coast, with the first 14 being a 2MW power plant for the city of Reedsport (providing about a quarter of the needed electricity for that resort community). The BBC article doesn't say what the expected output of the Scottish plant, using different technology, would be. Anybody know how the power output compares?

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    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    1. Re:I wonder how it compares? by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Ok, so one Pelamis is 750kw, as one Ocean Power Utility Size Bouy is 40kw. I sure wish the companies involved would reveal the cost of these modules so that we could do a true comparison....

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      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  4. Re:According to Wikipedia, 0.75 MW/Pelamis Machine by smaddox · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When have you ever seen a wave 15meters high excluding major storms?

  5. More British Sea Power (ho ho) by Bertie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There are plans afoot to harness the ridiculously powerful tides of Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, and build a turbine of similar generating power to this contraption. The tide there sometimes moves as fast as you can jog.Here's a BBC report on it.

  6. Tidal power is better than wave/wind - here's why. by FallOfDay · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Scotland has two major rivers, the Forth & Clyde. The Forth has a 6m tidal range & the Clyde has about 2m at the mouth of the estuary. Though the daily volume of water may not be as great as some other rivers, the water volume should still be large enough to completely power the electricity requirements for the populations surrounding each river.

    Compare to what's planned for the River Mersey (tidal range 8-10m). This may generate a consistent two gigawatts of electricity - about 3x the requirement for the entire Liverpool conurbation (Merseyside).

    http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article3 28507.ece
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/6171 391.stm