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First Commercial Breakwater Wave Energy Plant To Be Built
4 July 2007
The Basque Energy Board, Ente Vasco de Energia, will build the world’s first commercial breakwater wave energy plant on the Spanish Atlantic coast. The plant will be based on the Oscillating Water Column (OWC) technology of Voith Siemens Hydro’s Scottish subsidiary Wavegen, where it has been successfully field-tested for seven years in the LIMPET project.
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| The breakwater wave energy concept. Click to enlarge. |
Sixteen 18.5 kW two-way Wells turbines integrated into Mutriku’s new breakwater will work with the OWC technology. The power plant will have a rated capacity of nearly 300 kW, and supply electricity to around 250 households. The plant will be commissioned in the winter of 2008/2009.
The Oscillating Water Column uses the rise and fall of the sea level within a chamber due to wave action to compress and decompress an enclosed volume of air. This, in turn, drives a Wells turbine and generator to produce electricity that is fed to the grid.
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July 4, 2007 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted by: gr | July 04, 2007 at 09:26 AM
If you're going to build a breakwater anyway ... great idea.
So exactly how big are these units and how much does the electricity cost?
Posted by: NeilPackrat | July 04, 2007 at 11:00 AM
Well, the Worlds 1st Windmill has a capacity of only 22 KW and the todays Windmills have around 2,000 KW capacity with the largest at 5,000 KW.
Similarly this wave machine will also grow from 18 KW to higher levels some day.
Infact the same windmills could be submerged underwater to extract more energy with some modifications.
http://www.marineturbines.com/home.htm
Posted by: Max Reid | July 04, 2007 at 11:42 AM
The Enercon E112 is rated at 6,000 kW, but in tests in Germany it has actually reached nearer 8,000 kW (from a single wind turbine!)
Posted by: clett | July 05, 2007 at 04:29 AM
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Good to read of the practical implementation of tidal energy systems. The challenge for shoreline systems will probably be to design generators for minimum enviro impact and to withstand erosion.
At-sea systems capturing ocean currents and wave action in large part do not have to contend with those two issues.