The world’s first commercial wave farm is operational three miles off the shores of Portugal. The three 140-meter generators were built by British company Pelamis. The “sea snakes” convert the kinetic energy of wave motion into electricity -enough to power 1,000 homes.
The wave farm will eventually add another 25 generators, enough to produce up to 21 megawatts of power, with no CO2 emissions. LinkEach of semi-submerged Pelamis devices is 142m long, has a diameter of 3.5m and is made from 700 tonnes of carbon steel. A single wave converter is composed of four articulated sections that move up and down as the waves pass along it. At each of the hinges between the sections, hydraulic rams use the wave motion to drive generators to produce up to 750KW of power at peak output.
The electricity generated by the three Pelamis devices will be carried by undersea cable to a substation in Aguçadoura, which will then feed the power into the Portuguese national grid.
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In 2005, OPD secured the first order for Pelamis wave energy converters with a Portuguese consortium, to build the initial phase of the world's first commercial wave farm. The initial phase will consist of three Pelamis machines located off the North coast of Portugal. The Pelamis devices now being prepared for installation in Portugal are massive machines - over 120 metres long and weighing over 300 tonnes. They are the first commercial wave machines in the world.
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Adam
Internet marketing
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