Pelamis Wave Energy Converter

From Self-sufficiency
Jump to: navigation, search
Renewable energy
Wind Turbine

Biofuel
Biomass
Geothermal
Hydroelectricity
Solar energy
Tidal power
Wave power
Wind power

The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter is a technology that uses the motion of ocean surface waves to create electricity. The machine is made up of connected sections which flex and bend as waves pass; it is this motion which is used to generate electricity.

Developed by the Scottish company Pelamis Wave Power (formerly Ocean Power Delivery), it was the world’s first commercial scale machine to generate electricity into the grid from offshore wave energy and the first to be used in a commercial wave farm project.[1] The first full scale prototype was successfully installed and generated electricity to the UK grid at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland in August 2004.[2] The first wave farm consisting of three Pelamis machines and located off the coast of Portugal, was officially opened in September 2008.[3] In November 2008, after generating electricity since July 2008 [4], the project was disconnected from the grid and the machines towed back to shore. Pelamis Wave Power have since developed and built the new generation P2 device, the first of which will be deployed at EMEC in summer 2010.

Principles

The Pelamis is an attenuating wave energy converter designed with survivability at the fore. The Pelamis's long thin shape means it is almost invisible to hydrodynamic forces, namely inertia, drag, and slamming, which in large waves give rise to large loads. Its novel joint configuration is used to induce a tunable cross-coupled resonant response. Control of the restraint applied to the joints allows this resonant response to be ‘turned-up’ in small seas where capture efficiency must be maximised or ‘turned-down’ to limit loads and motions in survival conditions.[5]

Operation

The Pelamis device consists of a series of semi-submerged cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. The wave-induced relative motion of these sections is resisted by hydraulic cylinders which pump high pressure oil through hydraulic motors via smoothing hydraulic accumulators. The hydraulic motors drive electrical generators to produce electricity. Power from all the joints is fed down a single umbilical cable to a junction on the sea bed. Several devices can be connected together and linked to shore through a single seabed cable.

Projects

File:Pelamis machine installed at the Agucadoura Wave Park.JPG
1 of 3 Pelamis machines at the Aguçadoura Wave Farm

Portugal

The Aguçadoura Wave Farm was the world's first attempt at a commercial wave farm. The Portuguese minister of the economy officially opened the wave farm, consisting of three Pelamis wave energy converters, on 23 September 2008.[3] The farm was located near Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal. It had an installed capacity of 2.25MW, enough to meet the average electricity demand of more than 1,500 Portuguese homes.[6]The wave farm was shut down two months after the official opening in November 2008. [7][8]

The first Pelamis machine was installed at the site in July 2008.[4] The installation followed the successful conclusion of work to replace a failed subsea buoyancy unit on the mooring system.[9] After work was completed to replace the buoyancy units on the remaining two mooring connection points all three machines were simultaneously connected to the grid in September.[10] The farm was successfully commissioned and operated during the summer and autumn of 2008, producing power into the Portuguese national grid.[11]

The project was originally conceived by the Portuguese renewable energy company, Enersis, which developed and financed the project and which was subsequently bought by the Australian infrastructure company Babcock & Brown for €490m in December 2005. Since the last quarter of 2008 Babcock & Brown had its shares suspended and has been in a managed process of selling its assets, including the Agucadoura project. In March 2009 Babcock & Brown went into voluntary administration.[12]

In November 2008 the Pelamis machines were brought back into harbor at Leixões due to a technical problem with some of the bearings for which a solution has been found. However the machines are likely to remain offline until a new partner is found to take over Babcock & Brown’s 77% share in the project.[11]

A second phase of the project was planned to increase the installed capacity from 2.25MW to 21MW using a further 25 Pelamis machines.[13]

Scotland

Pelamis Wave Power announced an order from E.on for a P2 machine, in February 2009.[14] The P2 device is the next generation of Pelamis Wave Energy Converter and was constructed at the company's facilities in Leith Docks, Edinburgh.[15] The completed P2, named Vágr Atferð (Old Norse for wave power), will be installed at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) over the summer of 2010. [16]

In December 2009, Pelamis Wave Power announced a joint project with Vattenfall[17] to develop a large wave farm off the coast of Shetland.

The Crown Estate seabed leasing round, announced in March 2010, identified six potential sites for wave power devices within the Pentland Firth. [18] Pelamis Wave Power was named technology provider for three of these sites, including a 50MW site for E.on, a 50MW site for ScottishPower Renewables, and an additional 50MW site to be developed themselves, the Farr Point Wave Farm, originally called 'Armadale'. [19]

In March 2010 Pelamis Wave Power announced a second order for a P2 device, from ScottishPower Renewables, part of Iberdrola Renovables. [20] This machine will also be installed at EMEC, in summer 2011.

Worldwide

Pelamis Wave Power has also expressed an interest in installing Pelamis devices at the Wave hub development off the north coast of Cornwall, in England and in the Pacific ocean off the coast of Tillamook, Oregon.

Etymology

Pelamis platurus is a yellow-bellied sea snake that lives in tropical and subtropical waters. It prefers shallow inshore waters.

In the media

The Aguçadoura Wave Farm was featured in the Yann Arthus-Bertrand documentary "Home".

Pelamis was featured in the 2008 television documentary "Man-Made: Aqua Power".

Images

  • Pelamis Wellenkraftwerk Portugal 1.JPG

    2 of 3 Pelamis machines in the harbour of Peniche, Portugal.

  • Pelamis at EMEC.jpg

    Pelamis on site at EMEC, the planned location for Scotland's first wave farm.

  • Pelamis bursts out of a wave.JPG

    The front of the Pelamis machine bursting through a wave at the Aguçadoura Wave Park

See also

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Portal/images/e' not found.

References

Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.

Use <references />, or <references group="..." />

External links

Companies / Organisations
Power Stations
See also
de:Seeschlange (Wellenkraftwerk)

es:Convertidor de energía de olas Pelamis eu:Pelamis energia bihurgailua

it:Progetto Pelamis
  1. ↑ "Pelamis Wave Power". pelamiswave.com. Retrieved 2008-08-06. 
  2. ↑ "Wave Site Activity". European Marine Energy Centre. Retrieved 2008-09-28. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "23 de Setembro de 2008". Government of Portugal. Retrieved 2008-09-24. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "First Electricity Generation in Portugal". Retrieved 2008-07-15. 
  5. ↑ "P-750 Wave Energy Converter" (PDF). pelamiswave.com. Retrieved 2008-08-06. 
  6. ↑ "Wave energy contract goes abroad". BBC Scotland. 2005-05-19. Retrieved 2008-08-06. 
  7. ↑ "Pelamis Sinks Portugal Wave Power". cleantech.com. Retrieved 2009.  Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  8. ↑ "Pelamis Wave Power Jettisons Its CEO, Rough Waters Ahead?". greentechmedia.com. Retrieved 2009.  Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  9. ↑ "Portugal Embraces Wave Power". BBC News. 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2008-10-24. 
  10. ↑ Clark, Duncan (2009-03-19). "Recession leaves Pelamis wave energy project struggling to stay afloat". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2009-03-19. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Statement on Agucadoura Project". Retrieved 2009-03-22. 
  12. ↑ "It's game over for investment bank Babcock & Brown". Retrieved 2009-03-14. 
  13. ↑ Joao Lima. "Babcock, EDP and Efacec to Collaborate on Wave Energy Projects". Bloomberg Television. Retrieved 2008-09-24. 
  14. ↑ "E.ON on the crest of a wave". E.on. Retrieved 2010-06-16. 
  15. ↑ "Pelamis raises £5m to develop next generation wave power". New Energy Focus. Retrieved 2009-02-11. 
  16. ↑ "E.ON makes waves in UK waters". E.on. Retrieved 2010-06-16. 
  17. ↑ "Energy pairing on crest of a wave". news.bbc.co.uk. 2009-12-16. 
  18. ↑ "'Milestone' for wave energy plans". news.bbc.co.uk. 2010-03-16. 
  19. ↑ "PWP Celebrates Outcome of Crown Estate Leasing Round" (PDF). pelamiswave.com. Retrieved 2010-06-16. 
  20. ↑ "ScottishPower Renewables Purchase Pelamis Wave Power Device". ScottishPowerRenewables.com. Retrieved 2010-06-16. 
Retrieved from "http://ssf.f15ijp.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pelamis_Wave_Energy_Converter&oldid=27664"