Hydro:

ENERGY EMERGING: Pelamis wave energy converters rock with the sea (up, down and side-to-side) pumping high-pressure fluid to hydraulic motors that drive electrical generators which produce power fed down umbilical cables to a single subsea cable to shore, where it is tied into the land-based power grid.

Aftenposten: Hydro announces "wave farm"

A pioneering commercial wave power plant producing clean and renewable energy is to go on line off Portugal in 2006, project partners announced Friday. Norwegian energy company Hydro is a major backer of the project.

The companies claimed the so-called "wave farm" will be the world's first such commercial operation.

The power generators, like giant, orange sausages floating on water, will use wave motion to produce electricity by pumping high-pressure fluids to motors

A variety of systems, including wave and tidal energy, are being tested around the world as possible environmentally friendly and renewable energy sources.

Hydro: World's first commercial wave farm deal

Hydro's investment in Scots start-up Ocean Power Delivery caught a commercial wave this week by signing an order with Portuguese energy company Enersis to build the worlds first commercial wave farm to harvest electricity from sea swells.

Planned for completion in 2006, the farm will initially supply some 1,500 Portuguese households with electricity - and displace more than 6,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions that would otherwise be produced by conventional hydrocarbon-fuelled power plants.

A letter of intent has also been issued to order a further 30 Pelamis machines (for a total 20MW) before the end of 2006, subject to satisfactory performance of the initial project phase. If all goes well, many additional sites producing up to a total several hundred MW could be developed along the coast.

The EU currently calls for 22 percent of electricity consumption to come from renewable sources in 2010. Renewables currently meet about six percent of European energy demand.

Acquisition of Wavegen

24/05/05

Voith Siemens Hydro has purchased Wavegen in Inverness, Scotland, today.

The company which was founded in 1990 is leading in the construction of wave energy systems and in the research and the development of this technology.

Through the acquisition of Wavegen, Voith Siemens Hydro intends to boost the development of innovative technologies for energy generation from water and assume a leading role in this field.

Voith Siemens Hydro envisages its future strategic orientation, jointly undertaken with Wavegen, in the commercialization of existing technologies for near-shore power stations.

Locations for a number of projects have already been identified.

Originally posted by RANT

Originally posted by TJ11240
I hadn't even realized this technique was possible. I had heard about tidal generators, but never these. I can't wait to see how they do.

This is amazing. I had no idea. I thought the Myrtle Beach Lazy River was surely the crowning glory of man's achievements in harnessing the power of water.

Scotsman: Wave-farm contract creates 40 jobs

17 Jun 2005


FORTY jobs are being created at a Western Isles manufacturing yard that has secured work for the world's first commercial wave farm.

Camcal has been selected by Ocean Power Delivery to provide 12 main tube segments for the project off Portugal.

The yard, near Stornoway on Lewis, will see its workforce rise from 25 to 65.

Phil Smith, Camcal's managing director, said the deal could prove to be the first of many similar contracts.

This week a controversial report from Western Isles NHS board warned of a potential rise in HIV infections, sexual diseases and unwanted pregnancies in the Hebrides from wind farm construction workers.