Irish company claims wave power success

[Natorgator]

From Physorg:

Irish company claims wave power success
A prototype wave energy converter has begun harnessing electricity from Atlantic waves off the west coast of Ireland, the Wavebob company said on Tuesday.

A "Wavebob" floating buoy device that automatically adjusts to the size of the waves to maximise the amount of power it produces is undergoing trials off Spiddal, County Galway.

"This is a giant leap forward for renewable energy production in Ireland," said Wavebob chief executive Andrew Parish.

"As an island in the middle of the energetic Atlantic Ocean, Ireland can be to wave-energy what Saudi Arabia is to oil.

"The more we exploit this unlimited natural resource, the better it will be, not just for the global environment, but also for the Irish consumer's pocket," he said.

The quarter-scale prototype device involved in the trials is not connected to the national grid.

At full scale, each Wavebob device will be capable of producing in excess of a megawatt -- enough electricity for 1,000 homes.

Part of the strategy of Ireland's Energy Minister, Eamon Ryan, a member of the Green Party, is to have 500 megawatts of ocean energy installed by 2020.

Wavebob has invested more than 4.0 million euros (5.7 million dollars) in research and development over the past six years.

The company's partners include Chevron, Georgia Tech Research Institute, University College Cork and National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

Hopefully this will catch on and it will get to the US soon.

[PeZook]

Awesome!

And the R&D costs were pretty trivial, too. Although I found the claim about this being an "unilimited" power source to be pretty damn far-fetched

Remind me to move to Ireland before Peak Oil hits...

[Colonel Olrik]

Hopefully this will catch on and it will get to the US soon.

This is only one of several systems in production. Portugal has already a wave farm off the coast using the Palamis system, which is currently generating 2.5 MW (already connected to the grid, btw) from three machines, with another 30 being planned for the next two years and then if all goes well more so that the park eventually generates up to 500 MW.

AWS (Archimedes wave swing) systems are also being deployed commercially off Scotland, after the prototype testing phase in the ocean ended in 2004.

The concept is proven, the biggest problem is that this things are fucking expensive to build and to deploy properly. Let's see in the next years if it goes the way of the wind farms and costs go down. I believe that'll happen, there's too much energy off the Atlantic coast that we can't afford to waste.

[Starglider]

The concept is proven, the biggest problem is that this things are fucking expensive to build and to deploy properly.

They're also very expensive to maintain, moreso than wind systems (in fact they have all the same problems as offshore wind systems but even worse). High running and deployment costs have probably been the single biggest thing that has prevented previous prototype systems from going into mass production.

[Colonel Olrik]

The concept is proven, the biggest problem is that this things are fucking expensive to build and to deploy properly.

They're also very expensive to maintain, moreso than wind systems (in fact they have all the same problems as offshore wind systems but even worse).

The existing devices operate in significantly different ways. The Pelamis device seems to me much more complicated, with its moving snake-like horizontal deployment at the surface, than the AWS which is basically a submersed linear generator with an air/mechanical spring control that keeps the frequency of oscillation in resonance with the waves. Future will tell.

[Natorgator]

The concept is proven, the biggest problem is that this things are fucking expensive to build and to deploy properly.

They're also very expensive to maintain, moreso than wind systems (in fact they have all the same problems as offshore wind systems but even worse). High running and deployment costs have probably been the single biggest thing that has prevented previous prototype systems from going into mass production.

Makes sense. I've always wondered why they don't deploy them faster.

[General Zod]

Hopefully this will catch on and it will get to the US soon.

Too bad those of us in landlocked cities are going to be out to dry on this.

[Starglider]

Too bad those of us in landlocked cities are going to be out to dry on this.

Then get cracking and install a superconducting power grid.

[General Zod]

Then get cracking and install a superconducting power grid.

We just need our government to get over its skittishness with nuclear reactors.

[Dartzap]

There's a fairly large wavefarm being made down in Cornwall at the moment, only cost 300 million quid, heh.

Britain really should do well between this and windfarms: We have lots of waves and lots of wind, after all.

[Ted C]

And the R&D costs were pretty trivial, too. Although I found the claim about this being an "unilimited" power source to be pretty damn far-fetched

In the sense that this particular power source will be available as long as the Earth is habitable, it's an accurate statement.

In the sense that it will scale to any conceivable amount of power needed, not so much.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

There's an American company which is installing a similiar prototype system off the Oregon coast in addition to those already mentioned.

[Chris OFarrell]

Australia also have prototypes of this kind of technology being worked on.

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1117412.htm

If we can get to mass production in the next 2-3 years of this technology, it could very much be a viable bridging technology to help smooth out some of the PO issues, especially given how much of Australia is located on the coastline.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Scotland has a big project going on with these devices, intending on making the largest such network in the world someday (and that's got nothing to do with the North Sea's decline, no siree).

There's also that Dutch technology for floating wind turbines which we could use, given the UK is creating the largest off-shore wind farm on Earth in the near future. Watch the NIMBYs protest even when they need a telescope to see the thing.

[Vampiress_Miyu]

First reaction: "Oooh! That's really spiffy!"

But really, this is awesome. Word of this should be spread, so that this technology can be used further.... Maybe we can postpone our doom at the hands of a vengeful Gaia.

[Starglider]

Scotland has a big project going on with these devices, intending on making the largest such network in the world someday (and that's got nothing to do with the North Sea's decline, no siree).

I hope they get better output than the Scottish wind farms, which tend to output something like 20% of their rated capacity on average.

I still find it sickening that the Labour government replaced the old Conservative fossil fuel levy with a 'climate change levy' that taxes nuclear generation at the same rate as fossil fuels (only 'renewables' get let off).